THE narrow passing of the Budget 2021 in the Dewan Rakyat today will do little to inspire confidence in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, said Anwar Ibrahim.

“At this pivotal moment in time when the country requires a fundamental rethink in how it emerges from the pandemic stronger and more vibrant, PN has shown itself incapable of the task at hand,” the PKR president said in a statement today.

“It will simply render it further susceptible to the self-interests of these politicians at the expense of the rakyat,” he added.

Anwar said the opposition bloc had unanimously opposed the passing of the bill, as many crucial issues remained unaddressed by the government.

The opposition leader said the spending plan was fundamentally flawed in ways that have been extensively debated in Parliament. 

It also reflects the government’s own interests of political survival rather than the actual needs and welfare of the people.

However, the Port Dickson MP said because the PN government had erroneously linked passage of the budget to the functioning of the civil service and payment of salaries. Some MPs who opposed PN may have supported the budget to demonstrate their solidarity with millions of public servants who are equally impacted by the pandemic economy.

“It is disappointing that MPs who had expressed strong views against certain issues in the budget voted in support of the bill,” he said.

Anwar said the PN government will continue to use its political influence to preserve its power, often at the expense of the rakyat and the country’s future.

He also noted that the country is returning to a period where the government has little regard for acceptable standards of transparency, governance and prudent management of funds. 

He said this has been reflected in the recent downgrade of Malaysia’s sovereign credit ratings by Fitch Ratings and the weaker governance score given by the World Bank.

The Budget 2021 which was tabled for the third and final reading in the Dewan Rakyat today was passed with a slim majority.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said 111 lawmakers voted in favour of the Supply Bill while 108 voted against it. One MP was absent.

PN’s RM322.5 billion spending plan, which comes amid an economic and health crisis, is the largest budget ever to be tabled. – December 15, 2020.