UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he only received RM100,000 for his Bagan Datuk constituency for this year despite being a Perikatan Nasional MP.

He said other top Umno leaders, including Najib Razak, also received this same amount, but other MPs in the PN pact received RM3.7 million for the year.

Zahid said the RM100,000 constituency allocation – the amount given to opposition lawmakers – was despite him being a top leader in the biggest party which supports Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“I have received only RM100,000 for 2021, but the rest have gotten about RM3.7 million.

“Maybe they think RM100,000 is enough for Bagan Datuk despite being one of the poorest areas in Perak. No matter what, I thank them,” Ahmad Zahid said in an interview with web broadcaster NRchannelTV last night.

He said other Umno leaders given the paltry sum included party secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, former law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz and former Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) chairman Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub.

“The opposition gets RM100,000 but that is also what i got, Pontian (Ahmad Maslan), Pekan (Najib), Padang Rengas (Nazri) and Machang (Ahmad Jazlan).

“Hopefully the ones who decided this open their hearts and give the same amount (as other government MPs),” he said.

He also felt betrayed when was handed the sum despite him fully supporting the PN’s Budget 2021 despite there being threats to sabotage the supply bill.

“Despite supporting the budget we get this amount. We did not support the budget once or twice but three times and yet we still get RM100,000 like the opposition parties,” Zahid said.

The Barisan Nasional president also criticised the declaration of emergency, it was unnecessary.

“There was a declaration of emergency by the Agong based on the advice of the cabinet. It is not that we want to be disobedient to the king or go against his words but there is a question that plays on the people’s mind on why did this move happened.

“There are other measures that could have been taken to curb the pandemic. This is what the public feels about this,” Zahid said.

He said several parliamentarians from Umno and the opposition, have asked for Parliament to sit despite the emergency being declared.

“There have been efforts to appeal to the Agong to let Parliament sit. This is provided for in the constitution. We do not want to see any sort of invalidation to happen (in this country),” Zahid said.

Tensions in the past few months between Umno and PN have increased with Umno leaders claiming the party has been sidelined in the government.

All the five leaders who have received RM100,000 constituency allocations have been staunch critics of the PN government and Muhyiddin. 

Umno rejected Bersatu president Muhyiddin’s offer to join the PN coalition and instead asked Bersatu to join Muafakat Nasional (MN), which it formed with PAS and is seeking to be registered as an official entity.

Recently, Zahid sacked Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa as Barisan Nasional secretary-general as he was seen to be too supportive of PN. – February 4, 2021.