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Parliament anti-climax
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Key Highlights
Parliament anti-climax
Anwar adopts Ismail budget items
Five killed in floods
Parliament anti-climax
The Dewan Rakyat convened on Monday for the much anticipated vote of confidence on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
There was a heated debate on the matter, with PN taking pot-shots at Anwar, while saying the vote was unneccessary.
After all the drama, the vote passed rather anti-climatically with just a voice vote, and no bloc vote was called.
The government said a bloc vote was not necessary, while PN said they just didn't want to take part in the process.
However, Anwar's claim to have two-thirds support of the Dewan Rakyat was proven in some way.
During the vote for the deputy speakers, Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Mohd Nor won a spot with 148 votes - two-thirds of MPs, including himself.
An earlier vote for new Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul had just 147 votes as a deputy minister came to Parliament late.
Oddly, the second deputy speaker, Lanang MP Alice Lau, recieved just 146 votes. It is not clear who from the government side did not vote for her.
PN was only able to muster 74 votes during speaker and deputy speaker elections.
The Dewan Rakyat sitting on Tuesday saw Anwar hit back at his critics, but again all the fire stopped during the voting on the mini-budget, which passed on a voice vote too.
Read Malaysiakini’s live coverage of Day 1 and Day 2 of the proceedings.
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Anwar adopts Ismail budget items
Besides paying for civil servants salaries, the government's RM163.7 billion mini budget also contained goodies.
One of the goodies is a pay hike and special bonus for civil servants, which Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim adopted from his predecessor Ismail Sabri Yaakob's dropped Budget 2023.
Anwar is also continuing direct cash transfer aid first introduced by Najib Abdul Razak, with first payment of RM300 for households to be made in January.
Budget 2023 was tabled in October but Parliament was dissolved before it could be passed.
Anwar said he will table a new budget for 2023 in Februrary.
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Five killed in floods
As of midnight Tuesday, five have been killed by the monsoon floods battering several parts of the Peninsula.
Two of the fatalities were toddlers, a 15-month old boy in Kelantan, and 2-year-old girl in Terengganu.
Also killed were three sisters in Kelantan, who were electrocuted when their house was flooded.
As of midnight, more than 70,000 people had to flee their homes because of the floods.
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Views that matter
 | By S Thayaparan |
 | By Andrew Sia |
 | By Fa Abdul |
Other news that matter
The death toll from the Batang Kali landslide is now 25 after authorities found the remains of a girl late last night.
The operator of the campsite at Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali that was hit by the deadly landslide claimed he could not apply for a campsite licence because such a permit does not exist.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad loyalist Khairuddin Abu Hassan, has resigned from leadership posts in Pejuang, citing loss of confidence in party president Mukhriz Mahathir.
PAS Youth joined about 100 NGOs - predominantly Muslim ones - for an interfaith Christmas dinner hosted by the Christians for Peace and Harmony in Malaysia.
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