No news on funding is bad news for opposition MPs
PETALING JAYA: Two MPs have criticised Putrajaya for its silence on the annual allocations for elected representatives, saying they do not even know if they will receive any this year.
Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah and Gopeng MP Dr Lee Boon Chye, both of PKR, said they had not been notified of allocations for opposition representatives.
They told FMT they should have received news by this time of the year if the practice of previous years was being maintained.
Chin said her office had made inquiries with the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department but could not get a firm answer.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has, in fact, given up hope of getting allocations and decided to crowdfund to keep her service centre going. She managed to raise RM53,000 in just 16 hours.
Recently, Umno president and Bagan Datuk MP Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he received only RM100,000 for his constituency, the same amount given to opposition MPs. He said other government backbenchers received RM3.7 million.
Maria said: “I have checked with other opposition MPs and they also say they have not heard of any allocation.”
Lee said MPs would previously have been informed of their allocations by December and would receive them in January.
“It’s now February and there is still no communication from the government. It should be expedited, if there is any,” he said.
Maria said the allocations under the Pakatan Harapan administration included amounts for the operation of their service centres.
However, she said, these allocations were cut when Perikatan Nasional took over the government last year.
“I had to let go of all my staff when I lost my funding,” she said. “But later, when the Selangor government gave me some funds, I could afford to hire two.”
Yeoh has also called for transparency over the funds originally allocated for her constituency. She wants to know who received the money and how it was spent.
Some 32 opposition MPs from various parties have called on Putrajaya to provide opposition representatives the same amounts given to backbenchers.
In a joint statement, they said this would help them provide aid to those of their constituents who had suffered income losses because of Covid-19.
They said voters in opposition areas appeared to have been punished for exercising their democratic rights.
Previously, under the PH administration, opposition MPs also complained they were getting less than backbenchers. This prompted Klang MP Charles Santiago of DAP to call for equal treatment. - FMT
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