MUAR MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman took a swipe today at the unity government for failing to carry out the reforms it has pledged.

He said the promises of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to provide equal funding for government and opposition lawmakers, mandate declaration of assets and fight graft have gone down the drain.

“In March, the prime minister agreed to give equal allocations (to all MPs) regardless of government or opposition lawmakers,” the Muda president said at a press conference in the Parliament building today.

“However, after negotiations, the allocation is still zero for opposition lawmakers but government lawmakers get between RM3.8 million and RM4.5 million for their constituencies,” 

He said this meant that the government was punishing the people for their political beliefs.

He called on the government to draft a law that would mandate fair distribution of funding for all constituencies.

Syed Saddiq said the prime minister had in January announced that all cabinet members would be required to declare their assets.

It is now September and this has yet to happen, he said.

“Anwar had also said that corruption charges (against high-profile people) would not be dropped if he became the prime minister but now, cases are dropped,” said Syed Saddiq. 

The former youth and sports minister said government is not the “walk the talk” administration it claims to be.

Instead, Syed Saddiq said the Anwar administration is “all talk, no action”.

Earlier this month, Syed Saddiq took his party Muda out of the government bloc with the aim of becoming a political “third force”.

Following the decision, the federal government lost its supermajority in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.

Syed Saddiq had said that he would vote according to his conscience in parliament. – September 18, 2023.