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PH concedes to PN's abuse of power

This afternoon, the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun asked for a show of hands of those for and against the budget through voice vote. The opposition called for bloc voting, but the attempt eventually failed due to lack of the required support of 15 MPs.

UMANY questions the refusal of Pakatan Harapan MPs to oppose Perikatan National’s voice vote agenda. To pass the largest budget in history, Perikatan National must obtain the support of a majority of MPs, and to prove that the government has the majority of votes, in the case of equal strength between the ruling and opposition parties, a bloc vote is the best method.
However, most of the lawmakers who were sonorously opposed to the budget a few days ago unbelievably acquiesced to the ruling party's approval of the budget, losing their dignity in addition to their dichotomous stand. They should stand up and oppose the voice vote. If the bloc vote did implement today, the budget might have faced a different fate.
Malaysia’s 2021 Budget is the largest in the country’s history, with a total value of 322.5 billion Ringgit. This budget will affect Malaysia's future development and the outcome of the Covid-19 fight. Nonetheless, there are many details in the budget that highlights the secretiveness of PN. They might use the people's welfare and the fight against the pandemic as an excuse to smuggle more political capital.
For example, RM85.5 million is allocated to the controversial Special Affairs Department (JASA) in the budget. JASA or the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas was a government agency operating under the wing of MCMC during Barisan Nasional era and it served as the government's political propaganda agency. It involved in brainwash and smearing campaigns to protect BN's image, including the 1MDB brainwashing seminar that was held at University of Malaya in 2016. PN's intention to revive JASA this year is to cover-up their corrupted nature by using the same method applied several years ago.
PN's budget has also been criticized by many parties for not able to stimulate economic development and help the country to recover from the pandemic. For example, the Budget did not address the issues of small and medium-sized enterprises in various industries which had been severely affected by the pandemic, lacks targeted plans to assist the recovery of various economic sectors, or create more job opportunities for the country and allocate resources to reduce wealth inequality.
Besides, the people’s welfare is not soundly safeguarded in the budget. The budget only provides a short-term subsidy to disadvantaged groups, and there is no long-term plan to strengthen social protection institutions. Many youth organizations have also expressed their concern over the minuscule increase in education funding. The budget’s appropriation ratio of development allocation for East Malaysia has been reduced, the proportion of special allocation for different ethnic groups is extremely uneven, and the problem of huge expenditures for public servants cannot be solved.
Despite the budget being unsatisfactory in the eyes of many parties, but PN has shown no intention to improve the budget. When the PN government abused their power and called for the voice vote, the PH MPs, losing their spines, chose to kneel in silence, flabbergasting the civil society. Apparently, PH can even sacrifice its principles for the sake of politics.
Campus Democracy, Student Autonomy
UMANY



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