THE federal opposition should defeat the upcoming Budget 2021 bill if they truly have the numbers against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, said a Sarawak state minister.

Sarawak’s tourism minister Abdul Karim Hamzah, representing the GPS pact which is allied with Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional, said this was a way out for the opposition to overcome obstacles to the no confidence motion in parliament against the prime minister.

“If the opposition wants to bring him (Muhyiddin Yassin) down, vote against the budget which is going to be tabled next month,” Karim said.

“In the Westminster system, if the budget is defeated, that also tantamount to a vote of no confidence against the government,” Karim said.

He was referring to a number of no confidence motions filed by opposition lawmakers against the prime minister in the upcoming parliamentary session next month.

Karim said he was against removing a prime minister when the country was battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also said defeating the budget could have unintended consequences.

Speaking to reporters after opening a tour guide course in Kuching today, he said the defeat would shut the federal government down and millions of federal civil servants will not get their salary as no budget had been allocated for that purpose.

“Do we want that?” he asked.

“Personally, I feel this might not be a good time. The government of the day, helmed by Muhyiddin is doing a great job.  If the vote of no confidence gets through, then we probably could have an election.

“Then we know what could happen (to the pandemic control). Just look at (what happened in) Sabah (during the recent state election).

“Not a good move to have the vote of no confidence.” – October 21, 2020.