DR Mahathir Mohamad’s group of five MPs won’t support Budget 2021 until they have a chance to scrutinise it.

The former prime minister said his group – all part of the yet-to-be registered Pejuang and labelled as independents in Dewan Rakyat – have not been called in for any pre-budget meeting with the finance minister.

“How can we just agree with the budget without knowing what’s in it?

“We will not sign a blank cheque. We want to know what is in the budget first.

“It is a thick document, what if there are allocations to purchase handbags? How can we agree to that?” he told reporters in Langkawi last night.

The Langkawi MP also said that they have not been invited for a discussion on Budget 2021 by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

“No, we have not been invited for the meeting.

“We don’t care, it is okay if we are not invited. Our members are small and most of them are not elected reps,” he said, adding that he hopes the government would not delay the registration of his party Pejuang.

It was reported yesterday that Zafrul will meet Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmakers today to discuss the budget which will be tabled on Friday.

Zafrul also held talks with Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Penampang MP Darell Leiking on the budget on Friday.

Apart from Dr Mahathir, the other lawmakers in Pejuang are Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun), Maszlee Malik (Simpang Renggam), Shahruddin Md Salleh (Sri Gading) and Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu).

Dr Mahathir said all members of parliament must be given a chance to study the budget before they are asked to support it.

He was referring to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s call for MPs to support the budget to allow the government to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the economic slowdown.

He added that even the Agong studied Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request for a state of emergency before rejecting it.

“Likewise, all MPs must be given the space to study the budget first before agreeing to it.

“If we blindly support the budget, that means we as MPs are being irresponsible to our constituents.”

Dr Mahathir also questioned the Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) delay registering his party.

He said he would not mind if Pejuang was left out from the pre-budget discussion but stressed that Muhyiddin has no reason to stop his party from being registered.

On Thursday, Pejuang secretary-general Amiruddin asked why the RoS was taking such a long time although the application was submitted manually and online more than two months ago.

The RoS said the application is still under study and verification. – November 1, 2020.