(Nov 17): Bandar Tun Razak MP Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said he believed he was doing the right thing for his constituents by voting in support of Budget 2016 when it was put to vote in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Khalid, also the former Selangor menteri besar, said his constituents would not see this as a betrayal, and he would meet with voters to tell them why he had supported Putrajaya's budget.

“My constituents voted for me to do the right thing. So I am doing the right thing from my perspective. I can meet my constituents and tell them this is what I felt was right,” he said when met by reporters at Parliament today.

“I am not doing things on behalf of other people. I am doing things on behalf of them."

The budget was passed last night by a division vote, as requested by the opposition MPs, with 128 ayes and 74 nays.

Khalid was sacked from PKR last year after refusing to heed party decisions, among them over Selangor's restructuring of its water industry and for refusing to step down to let PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail take over as menteri besar.

He is now the only independent lawmaker in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said that the budget had to be passed as there were a lot of development exercises to be done by the government, adding that only small changes were needed to strengthen it.

“Even during my budget speech, I questioned the need for privatisation and I also said there was a need to review the previous privatisation (projects) so that we can correct the problems we are facing now as concessionaires are reaping huge profits.

“If there is something to be corrected, we don't have to correct the whole budget. So as the parliamentary representative of Bandar Tun Razak, I do not see a need to oppose the budget,” he added. – The Malaysian Insider