Friday 29 Mar 2024
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(Nov 17): The opposition’s failure to vote down Budget 2016 yesterday was because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak succeeded in getting PAS to back him, DAP said.

Its secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng, said PAS’s decision to abstain from voting against the budget indicated that the Islamist party supported policies like the goods and services tax (GST).

He said he failed to see how PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang could say the budget benefitted the people when GST was a burden to most. There were also no measures to stop the ringgit’s slide against the US dollar.

“Hadi’s remark showed that PAS is supportive of GST and the lack of proposals to counter the ringgit drop. They just accept the current policy of the federal government, and okay with the financial scandals.

“You cannot support the budget without supporting GST. The consumption tax has caused economic growth to slow down and business is bad now... that is why we voted against the budget,” Lim told reporters in the Penang legislative assembly building lobby today.

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said despite PAS’s move to abstain, there were three “brave” MPs from the party that joined Pakatan Harapan MPs in voting down the budget.

Last night, the Budget 2016 was passed by a division vote as requested by the opposition MPs with 128 ayes and 74 nays. The bill will be put through a second reading.

The three PAS MPs who broke ranks with their party were Datuk Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena), Ahmad Baihaki Atiqulah (Kubang Kerian) and Dr Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad (Pasir Puteh).

Mahfuz then told reporters that he was not worried about action being taken against him by his party because he did not want a “budget that burdens the people”.

Lim said this showed that although PAS was supportive of the budget, it did not mean that all its lawmakers felt the same.

The opposition’s failure to vote down the budget was expected because of their lack of numbers, but Lim said it was “better to fail trying than failing to try”.

He added that he was trying to contact DAP’s Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw on his failure to turn up at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday to vote against the budget.

All of DAP’s 37 MPs attended the sitting, except for Tan and Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, who has been suspended from Parliament for six months. – The Malaysian Insider

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