KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): The government is open to providing allocation to opposition members of Parliament going forward, but subject to negotiation between both parties, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“I was never against allocation to opposition MPs; it has always been my position that allocation to the other side can be done through negotiation, similar to Bera’s time,” Anwar [PKR-Tambun] told Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (March 7).

Anwar had led Pakatan Harapan (PH) in a negotiation with former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to sign a memorandum of understanding between both parties, which terms include providing allocations to then opposition MPs in the PH coalition.

Anwar, who is also minister of finance, was responding to a call from Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kasim for the government to provide equal allocation to opposition MPs, saying that it is unfair to voters in the constituencies won by the Opposition in GE15.

In response, Anwar said he will direct the government bloc’s chief whip to reach out to the opposition chief whip to work out a plan in providing allocation to MPs from the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

“You urged the government to not repeat the practices by the past administration. During Pagoh (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin)’s time, there were no allocation to us as opposition MPs; are you saying that Pagoh was unfair and cruel?

“I will direct the chief whip to work on this; if negotiation can be done tomorrow, we can make the allocation the day after tomorrow,” said Anwar.

Earlier, Shahidan was asking the government to justify its decision for not declaring a flood emergency in Johor and urged Anwar to approve RM300,000 each to MPs whose constituencies were affected by the floods.

Anwar explained that it was because weather was expected to improve from Monday (March 6) onwards and the government has allocated RM50 million for direct payment to victims affected by the floods.

Additionally, the prime minister also said that banks like CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) are directed to help their customers who are flood victims, by providing up to six months loan moratoriums.

“I am sure other banks will provide similar assistance packages,” he told Parliament.

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