(Report updated at 22:10)

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, speaking after the Dewan Rakyat passed Budget 2021 at the policy stage today, said the opposition will return strongly to scrutinise the budget during the committee stage debate from Monday.  

The Opposition Leader said while the Supply Bill 2021 was approved through voice vote, the opposition will push for bloc voting during the committee stage.  

Anwar was widely expected to get opposition MPs to vote against the bill today but only 13 MPs stood up to seek a bloc vote, when at least 15 are needed for the process.

The PKR president told a press conference while the Pakatan Harapan coalition remains opposed to the budget, he did not want to seem to be rejecting it now, especially after Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced some amendments during his wind-up speech.  

“We did not want to go hard and oppose it at this stage. He (Zafrul) announced grants and allowances for frontliners, farmers, fishermen and even the unemployed. 

“If we reject it outrightly, it would affect the salaries of government servants and the frontliners. So we decided to let it go this time but we will fight it when detailed explanations are given next week,” he said.  

Zafrul also announced today that there will be an automatic moratorium on loan repayments for people in the B40 category and SMEs, while those in M40 category are only required to make a self-declaration without any documentation to get their  moratorium extended.

The minister also announced that EPF’s i-Sinar programme will be expanded to cover all contributors who suffered income losses, with the withdrawal limit raised to RM10,000. 

Anwar said Zafrul did not give adequate explanation on the changes in the budget during his wind-up speech.  

“He just read them out and didn’t go into detail,” he said, adding that the opposition will scrutinise carefully when the details are released next week.  

Also present at the press conference were Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu and DAP leaders Lim Guan Eng and Gobind Singh Deo.