PARLIAMENT | Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has reminded the Pakatan Harapan government that the Budget 2019 is a budget for all of Malaysia and not just Kuala Lumpur, as he said it appears to prioritise urban dwellers over those in rural areas.

"Don't punish voters outside of Kuala Lumpur.

"I understand, most of the Pakatan Harapan voters live in Kuala Lumpur but this is Budget 2019 for Malaysia, not Budget 2019 for Kuala Lumpur," he said during the debate on Budget 2019 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The new government, he said, keeps talking about privatisation and favours a laissez-faire approach to the economy.

But he questioned whether such an approach will help the rural communities, such as farmers, ranchers and fishermen.

Read more: What happened to the tax reforms you once championed - KJ asks Harapan

Under the new budget, he said, there are no social safety net initiatives by the government to help these groups of people, which the former BN government provided during the monsoon season and while waiting for harvest.

"This assistance is not to buy their vote. This assistance is about whether they can eat or not, because for these communities, during monsoon season and while waiting for harvest, they lose their main source of income.

"So now I want to ask, if it is not the government who helps these communities in such seasons, who will help them?

"Will you ask the free market to help them? You want to ask developers and giant conglomerates to help them?

"If helping these farmers and fishermen survive during such seasons is not the duty of the government, then what are the responsibilities of the government?" Khairy asked.

Another way the government can help these communities, he said, is to provide them with short-term skills so they have other ways to generate income when their main source of income is on hold.

Such skills, he said, could include anything from vocational skills to handicrafts.

"But, even such things, the Harapan government did not mention in the budget.

"There was no mention of assistance, and no mention of replacement skills.

"So I want to ask again, what is the government planning to do for them in such seasons?" 

This, he said, is the problem when the government's economic policies lean too heavily towards urban dwellers.