(Nov 11): Voting down the government's budget is normal in a democracy, opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan said today, following PAS’s decision to abstain from rejecting Budget 2016 in the Dewan Rakyat.
In slamming the Islamist party, the parliamentary whips of the three parties in the coalition said that the previous opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat, which included PAS, had voted down the government's budget before, so it was nothing new.
"Voting down a budget by the opposition is a normal practice in a parliamentary democracy system. It is not a strange, nor a new thing. It has been done by Pakatan Rakyat, including PAS MPs before this," Datuk Johari Abdul (Sungai Petani-PKR), Anthony Loke (Seremban-DAP) and Khalid Samad (Shah Alam-Amanah) said in a statement today.
"The decision to abstain as proposed by PAS should not be taken by any opposition party now."
This was because the budget was the implementation of Barisan Nasional-led (BN) government policies that were not agreed upon, they said, adding that it was not only about acquiring funds but also on the priority given in using the people's money.
"That is why it is rejected and opposed. The decision to abstain will not help the majority of the people and will make their presence in Parliament meaningless," they said.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was quoted by Sinar Harian as saying the party's MPs would not support the call by DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) to remove Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak by voting down the budget in the Dewan Rakyat.
"We will abstain and not vote to reject it completely, because our party's policy is to support what's good for the people and oppose what's bad for the people. There are things we don't agree on, but there is no way we will join the calls to vote down Budget 2016,” he had said.
Hadi added that there were other ways to unseat Najib, such as tabling a motion of no confidence, but said this would not work without Umno's cooperation.
The party's deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that voting down Budget 2016 would only hurt Malaysians, as it would lead to a "government shutdown" should the vote succeed.
Malaysia, he said, would suffer a similar predicament to the United States' 2013 government shutdown, with civil servants furloughed indefinitely or required to work without known payment dates.
Pakatan Harapan, however, shot this down, saying this year's situation was different as there was a possibility that the budget would be voted down as it was rumoured that some BN MPs would join the opposition coalition in rejecting it.
"The reality is that it would not be the situation. Instead, voting down the budget would be a huge slap to Najib and his Cabinet. It can be akin to a vote of no confidence against Najib.
"There is a huge possibility that the motion of no confidence that was tabled by the opposition leader would not be up for debate by the government. So, voting down the budget is a replacement for that," they said.
Najib, the trio said, would be forced to present an alternative budget that can be agreed upon by Parliament or resign and make way to the formation of a new Cabinet.
"The rejection of the budget has to be seen as a golden opportunity to correct the budget that is a burden to the people. If a new budget is presented, maybe we can include the allocations we want.
"We suggest that there should not be anyone creating confusion and fear among the people about voting down the budget. The efforts to do so will only be seen as attempts to defend Najib. If there are those who want to do it, let it be done by BN,” they added. – The Malaysian Insider