A DAP lawmaker has claimed that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said misunderstood his question concerning the cost of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's Hari Raya open house held at his official residence Sri Perdana.

Anthony Loke was referring to Azalina's parliamentary reply dated July 25, which stated that the open house fell under the prime minister's entertainment allowance and the cost was “moderate”.

The Seremban MP said he had asked for a detailed breakdown of the cost.

"We know this is the prime minister's privilege. We don't question that.

"The function of Parliament is to question and monitor spending by the PM or ministers. As MPs, we have the right to question the spending," Loke told a press conference in Parliament today.

Loke said he had posed a similar question in 2013, and Azalina's predecessor Shahidan Kassim had answered that the open house cost RM2.88 million.

“I want to know whether the cost has increased in the past few years and whether it is reasonable,” he said, questioning what Azalina meant by the cost being “moderate”.

“RM3 million might be moderate. RM5 million might be moderate for Najib’s standard,” he added.

Loke complained that the current trend appears to be that questions related to the prime minister's spending would not be answered.

Similarly, DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had also asked about the cost of the prime minister's trip together with his family to Bali and Perth in June and July this year.

Azalina had answered that the government only bore the costs for official visits or programmes while the prime minister’s allowance and privileges are as stated in the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980.