PARLIAMENT today approved the budget for the Prime Minister’s Department by 105-95 votes.

The allocation passed committee stage by division vote.
 
There was no abstentions but 20 lawmakers were absent.

Missing from chambers on the government side were Najib Razak (Pekan-BN), Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk-BN), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Gua Musang-BN) and Jeffrey Kitingan (Keningau-STAR).

From the opposition, Chow Kon Yeow (Tanjong-DAP),  Masir Kujat (Sri Aman-PSB), Awang Husaini Sahari (Putatan-PKR), Michael Teo (Miri-PKR), Christina Liew (Tawau-PKR) and the eight Warisan MPs from Sabah were absent.

PKR whip Johari Abdul called for the division vote after nearly two hours of debate. Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun agreed and adjourned the sitting for 20 minutes to give both sides time to get into chambers to vote.

The Pakatan Harapan opposition was heavily criticised last Thursday over its failure to initiate a division vote for the supply bill at policy stage.. 

Two of the 222 seats in Dewan Rakyat are vacant following the deaths of Liew Vui Keong (Batu Sapi) and Hasbullah Osman (Gerik).  On paper Perikatan Nasional has 112 MPs on its side v 108 in the opposition camp.

Questions were raised over the 10.7%, or RM482 million increase in the allocation to the Prime Minister’s Department, the reduced allocations to some states, such as Sarawak, and the RM813 million set aside for public private partnerships.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim opened the debate by querying the need for a bigger cabinet.
 
Khalid Samad (Shah Alam-PH) and Teo Nie Ching (Kulai-PH) also questioned the prime minister’s motivations for raising the number of portfolios.

“Was the cabinet expanded for Prime Minister Muhyiddin to secure support for himself among the MPs?” asked Khalid, who was federal territories minister in the Pakatan Harapan government.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof brushed aside the queries and said the cabinet was necessarily of that size to cater to current needs.

“This cabinet isn’t much bigger than the PH cabinet,” said Redzuan.

Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s cabinet had 28 ministers and 27 deputies.

Last Thursday, Dewan Rakyat approved Budget 2021 at the policy stage with a voice vote after a bid for a division vote by the opposition fell through.

The budget for each of the 27 ministries will be debated at the committee stage until December 15, after which the Dewan Rakyat will vote on Budget 2021 at the third reading stage.

The Finance Ministry’s budget is up next for voting. – November 30, 2020.