The Perak Pakatan Rakyat camp has two main expectations when the Budget 2011 speech is tabled in the state legislature on Nov 30.

It wants the sitting to last at least a week to provide time for full debate, and not be rushed through “just to fulfil the requirement of conducting a sitting every six months”.

Also, its representatives do not want to see a repeat of a heavy police presence around the state secretariat which houses the legislative assembly.

The state assembly has 59 representatives, consisting of 28 from BN, 27 from Pakatan Rakyat and four Independents.

NONE Perak Pakatan chief Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said members of the House should be allowed to perform their duty as elected representatives.

“Let us play our role in... fulfilling our  political commitments with credibility and responsibility according to the expectations of Perakians, ” he said when contacted.

“BN should allow me, as Opposition Leader, more time to debate the budget and not a mere 20 minutes or so, as happened at the last sitting. When Pakatan was in power, we gave Opposition Leader (Mohamad) Tajol Rosli (Mohd Ghazali) two hours to debate the budget.”

Tronoh representative NONE V Sivakumar (right) confirmed receipt of notice of the sitting dated Oct 28.

“We are preparing the eight questions - five written and three oral - to be submitted to the assembly secretariat by Friday,” he said.

“We hope that all our questions will be answered by the state government, not like during the last sitting when they went unanswered.”

When contacted, speaker R Ganesan gave an assurance that all representatives will be able to have their say during the proceedings.

He said the sitting will take more than a day, but did not state the full duration.

NONE On the request for more time for debate, Ganesan said: “This will depend on the situation during the sitting. I will give sufficient time provided that they stick to the budget agenda and are not carried away by politics.”

He also said he will be fair to all representatives, but reminded them to comply with the Standing Orders and to respect the chair.

Focus on expenditure

DAP’s Pantai Remis representative Nga Kor Ming pointed out that a deficit budget of RM50 million had been tabled at the Aug 3 sitting.

“Now state financial officer Jamalluddin (Al Amin Ahmad) says we will have a RM80 million deficit budget. This will be a new (combined) record of a RM130 million deficit in the state’s financial history,” he claimed.

Nga (right) said the Auditor-General’s Rep nga kor ming ort had stated that, during Pakatan rule, the state had RM850 million in surplus funds. During BN rule, this dipped to RM689 after a RM85 million deficit was posted.

“(Menteri Besar) Zambry (Abd Kadir) is fully responsible in accounting for public funds and I shall grill him on many aspects of wastage and leakage during the sitting,” he said.

ngeh koo ham Sitiawan representative Ngeh Koo Ham noted that public funds are “not the personal property of BN” to allocate as it pleases “to BN/Umno cronies and ...to promote Zambry’s political image”.

“We want accountability, transparency and responsibility in the spending of funds,” he added.