Equal funding: Saifuddin chides PN for complaining instead of talking

Pakatan Harapan secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail criticised the opposition for rejecting the government’s proposed deal on equal funding via media instead of negotiating for better terms.

He recalled the previous negotiations under former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, explaining that both sides engaged in a structured process involving multiple rounds of discussions.

Saifuddin said the government first presented a draft, which Harapan discussed internally before providing feedback.

Both sides reviewed the feedback and, through negotiations, they eventually reached an agreement.

“(But) this MOU (memorandum of understanding)? They’ve just received the draft, and are already making noise out there. 

“As Deputy Prime Minister II Fadillah Yusof said, if you prefer to talk to the media, there’s no need to negotiate!” Saifuddin remarked in a Facebook post today.

MOU ‘against Malays, bumiputera’

Perikatan Nasional rejected the draft MOU offered by the government last week, with opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin citing four reasons for rejecting the MOU.

The first reason was that the agreement could allegedly compromise the rights and privileges of the Malays and bumiputera as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.

Hamzah also argued that the MOU conflicted with traditional, cultural, moral, and religious values.

Additionally, he claimed that the MOU could lead to an abuse of power and restrict MPs' parliamentary privileges. 

Fadillah dismissed these concerns as baseless while revealing the contents of the MOU.

Yesterday, PN said they would only return to the negotiation table if new terms were offered.

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