PN unanimously rejects govt's funding proposal for opposition MPs

Perikatan Nasional has unanimously rejected the government’s proposed deal on constituency allocations for its MPs, said opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin. 

He said the government’s draft memoranda of understanding to PN MPs and the opposition coalition were rejected for four reasons.

“Perikatan Nasional has received two sets of draft MOU from the government related to allocations to PN MPs, namely between the Malaysian government and PN coalition, and between the Malaysian government and all PN MPs.

“We made a unanimous decision to reject the MOU for four fundamental reasons,” said Hamzah in a statement.

The opposition leader said some of the conditions in the MOU were feared to potentially affect the rights and privileges of the Malays and bumiputera guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

“Secondly, the draft MOU contains conditions that are seen as contrary to traditional, cultural, moral, religious, and local values.

“Third, it can be misinterpreted and lead to abuse of power. The draft MOU also does not have a clear mechanism and this situation can open the way for any violation, breach of promise, or ex-parte non-compliance.

“Fourth, this draft MOU also contains matters that are seen as restricting the freedom of speech of MPs, where each MP has the right and immunity to speak on behalf of the people in accordance with Act 347 of the Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952,” he said.

Accordingly, PN also reminded the government of the Pakatan Harapan manifesto, which promises to provide constituency development funds equally to all MPs regardless of their party, said Hamzah.

Unusual, complicated terms

Yesterday, PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin said the opposition bloc would only make an announcement after the government’s proposal was discussed between opposition MPs and the central PN leadership as the deal was unusual and complicated.

“We held several meetings and decided that, among others, the proposed MOU is rather unusual and complicated, not one that is intended to help the people’s representatives,” he said, adding that PN’s ranks had expressed unhappiness over the proposal.

Earlier this month, opposition chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan said the government had laid out seven conditions for PN in exchange for financial allocation for its MPs.

The clauses include matters pertaining to speech that touch on 3R (religion, race, and royalty) and obligate all PN MPs to declare their assets to the government.

They would also need to agree to support the government until the end of this term, Takiyuddin said.

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