Asked if the opposition bloc had failed since Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has survived the move to vote down Budget 2016 yesterday, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said “it is better to fail trying than not to try”.

“Even though we did not succeed, at the same time it shows us that Najib has managed to get PAS to support him as far as the budget is concerned,” Lim, who is the MP for Bagan and DAP secretary-general, told a press conference at the State Legislative Assembly today.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had said PAS supported the budget because it has also benefitted the people, Lim noted.

“But I cannot understand how it benefits the people when they are affected by the goods and services tax (GST) and there are no measures to stop the drop of the value of the ringgit,” he added.

“You cannot support the budget without supporting the GST, or the issue of financial scandals affecting the drop of ringgit and causing our economy to slow down,” Lim said.

“That statement from Hadi shows PAS supports GST, that they have no proposal to counter the drop in ringgit and they accept the present policies of the BN government.

“This indirectly also means that PAS is okay with the financial scandals involving 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donations in Najib’s private bank accounts,” Lim ( photo ) said.

However, Lim praised the three PAS MPs who broke ranks with the party’s decision to abstain from voting for or against the budget, describing the trio as “brave”.

The three are Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, Pasir Puteh MP Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad and Kubang Kerian MP Ahmad Baihaki Atiqullah.

They voted against the budget together with 29 PKR, 35 DAP (one absent), six Amanah and one Parti Sosialis Malaysia MPs.

Willing to speak up for the people

“The three brave PAS MPs were willing to speak up for the people. They said they love the people more, that is why they opposed the budget, even though the BN succeeded in drawing PAS on its side,” Lim said

Asked to explain the absence of DAP’s Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw’ from Parliament during the voting yesterday, Lim said the party was trying to get an explanation from Tan.

He also said as there still were more “brave” people in PAS and that there would be no problem for PAS Permatang Pasir assemblyman Salleh Man to be part of the Penang government.

Salleh, the sole PAS assemblyperson in Penang, was shunned by the Permatang Pauh PAS division for openly supporting Pakatan Harapan and Lim’s chief ministership.

The Penang BN assemblypersons had asked Lim to declare where Salleh stands , since he has lost the support of his PAS comrades.