PARLIAMENT | Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has appealed for more funds from Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, citing insufficient budget for its diplomats.

According to a Berita Harian report, Saifuddin told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that Wisma Putra was short of RM133 million, and that he had previously asked Lim for funding.

"Although we were informed that the government does not have enough funds, we still asked if we could have RM50 million.

"And in the end, the Finance Ministry gave us RM40 million," Saifuddin reportedly said in his winding-up speech when debating a motion to table Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 23, as the basis for the country's foreign policy.

Saifuddin, however, maintained that the RM40 million was still not enough, especially for ambassadors who served in and travelled between different countries. 

“We have diplomats who have been sent to take care more than one country. Some who are ambassadors in country A actually live in country B. They need to fly to country B, but Wisma Putra requested that they delay their flights because there is no budget.

“It's miserable and in very poor condition. If they really want to, they can drive but they need to maintain ‘standards’ too, we can’t have them driving for eight hours.

“These are our ambassadors, we can’t have them be so miserable,” Saifuddin was quoted as saying.

Foreign Ministry officials stationed overseas were also facing issues with renting suitable living quarters, Saifuddin explained.

“Due to the low ceiling rate for rentals, some of our officials have to live far away from the embassy. This has caused problems, raising the cost of transportation.

“Meanwhile, some go to (live in) places that are inappropriate for diplomatic officials.

“In one case, our (official’s) quarters in Paris was damaged. The ceiling was leaking and this affected the house next door. The owner sued us,” he said.

Saifuddin thus appealed to Lim for more funding to resolve these issues.

“Therefore, I ask the finance minister to hear the pleas of this foreign minister.

“Please give us the budget,” he said.