COMMENT | How many of you were shocked with what happened in Parliament yesterday during the first round of voting with regard to Budget 2021? 

To be honest, I was shocked because of all the things that the opposition had said about rejecting the budget if their suggestions were not considered or met.

Personally, I was also quite upset at how the government interpreted what the Yang di-Pertuan Agong said when he stated that the budget had to be agreed on and approved. I read it as the government was obligated to consult all quarters, including the opposition, to come up with a budget that everyone would be happy with.

Instead, they just went and drew up a budget the way they wanted it and only after much criticism, agreed to a meeting of a couple of hours with a few selected members of the opposition. Of course, as you can expect, nothing came out of the meeting. The budget remained and it was tabled in Parliament.

Still, I thought it was okay because now it would be debated in Parliament. The opposition continued to spew their rhetorics saying that they would reject the budget if it wasn’t amended. So I kept the faith that the government would be pressured into amending the budget in order to get it approved by all the MPs.

Let’s not also forget the fact that several motions of no confidence were submitted in Parliament against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Many Malaysians are unhappy with the way he took over the government with his cronies (or maybe he is the crony and was manipulated into becoming the prime minister).

No vote of no confidence is going to happen. The government isn’t going to allow that. So the only way was to actually vote against the budget to show that Muhyiddin does not have enough support.

If the budget isn’t approved, then most likely, Parliament would be dissolved and a general election would take place to choose a mandated government.

So what happened in Parliament yesterday, when a majority of the...