Allocations for three ministries passed at committee stage

ALLOCATIONS for the Foreign, National Unity and Plantation Industries and Commodities ministries under Budget 2021 were passed at the committee stage, with only one of them going through the bloc voting process.

The allocation for the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry was passed through bloc voting, with 108 MPs voting in favour, 95 voting against it while 17 were absent.

The approval for the three ministries brought the number of approved ministry budget allocations at the committee level to five, with two passed through majority vote and the rest by bloc voting.

The debate session at the committee stage is scheduled to continue until Dec 15.

Meanwhile, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong chided Opposition MPs for being “consistently inconsistent” on their plan to call for a bloc vote on the Budget 2021 allocations for every ministry.

He questioned why Opposition MPs did not call for a bloc vote on the allocations for the Foreign Ministry despite several Pakatan MPs declaring on Monday that they would call for a bloc vote on the allocations for every ministry in Budget 2021.

The allocations for the Foreign Ministry under Budget 2021 were passed with a simple voice vote.

“It seems as though Opposition MPs have now realised that their ‘wayang’ (play-acting) has not been well received,” he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

He also said the Opposition’s attempts on Monday to derail allocations for the Prime Minister’s Department and the Finance Ministry were futile after they failed to garner enough support when bloc voting was called for the allocations for the two ministries.

“That is why I used the #ConsistentlyInconsistent tagline to describe the Opposition’s move to table a bloc vote in Parliament.

“They weren’t even joking when (Amanah president) Mohamad Sabu loudly declared: ‘The Opposition will call for a bloc voting for every ministry and losing 27-0 is okay.’

“But, he was not even in the Dewan Rakyat when the Foreign Ministry’s allocations under Budget 2021 was about to be passed at the committee stage,” said Dr Wee.

He also said only DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was present in the House when the Foreign Ministry’s allocations were about to be passed via a voice vote.

“When there’s no bloc voting and the allocations were passed with a voice vote, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir ( Independent- Jerlun) straight away packed his bags and rushed out of the House.

“Is this a coincidence? This was happening at the same time when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was present in the House.

“Did Najib’s presence make Pakatan Harapan change their strategy and they lost their bravado in calling for a bloc vote? Only Pakatan leaders can answer this,” Dr Wee said.

On Monday, the Opposition failed to stop allocations to be passed for the Prime Minister’s Department and the Finance Ministry despite calling for a bloc vote.

The allocations for the Prime Minister’s Department were passed by 105 MPs against 95 others who voted against it, while the Finance Ministry’s allocations were passed with 107 votes in support against 95 MPs who voted against it.