What to look out for
Tabling of 2019 Budget will show how ruling coalition manages finances
2019 BUDGET: SHOULD THE PEOPLE EXPECT ‘SOME PAIN’, OR A REPRIEVE?
ANWAR TO BE SWORN IN TODAY; JOINS WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN AUGUST HOUSE CONTENTIOUS DEBATES ON ABOLISHMENT OF SEDITION ACT, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
MALAYSIANS, including the 5,685,252 who sent Pakatan Harapan into Putrajaya on May 9 to take over the country’s administration, will hear for the first time at this parliamentary sitting how the ruling coalition will be managing the country’s finances.
It will be at this second meeting of the first term of the 14th Parliament, which begins today, that the finance minister will be tabling the 2019 Budget, drawn up in the last five months after PH ended Barisan Nasional’s 61year rule.
Scheduled for Nov 2 , Lim Guan Eng, who holds the finance portfolio, had on many occasions in the past few weeks told the people to be prepared for “some pain and even offer some sacrifice”.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said the Pakatan Harapan government had made it its priority to ensure that the people were not burdened, especially those in the bottom 40 per cent (B40) group and that it was identifying the best and innovative ways to increase national revenue.
On the part of the rakyat, they are expecting to get some reprieve from the government they voted in, although they may give the PH government some latitude in building on its coffers because of the fiscal challenges it has been facing.
Based on past weeks’ reports, Malaysians are expectto ing to be able stretch their money a little longer next year as they try to make the best of prices of goods, which had not seen much, if any, reductions.
Those commuting to make ends meets are hoping for fees of public transport to be made cheaper.
The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services wants the government to give priority to repairing and upgrading dilapidated civil staff quarters in the 2019 Budget. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had hinted that due to unfavourable economic conditions, the 2019 Budget would be smaller than the previous year’s, where the BN government set aside RM280.25 billion for operating and development expenditures.
This round of sitting, which will cover 30 days, will see Dr Mahathir tabling on Thursday the HalfTerm Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan. Today will be the official return of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the Dewan Rakyat after his comfortable 23,560-majority win in the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election on Saturday.
It is also the start of the PKR president-in-waiting’s journey to become the eighth prime minister.
The former deputy prime minister last had a seat in the august house in 2015. He was Permatang Pauh member of parliament, a seat he won in the 2013 national
polls with a majority of 11,721 votes.
However, he was disqualified as MP after the Federal Court upheld his conviction and a fiveyear jail sentence in 2015.
Anwar was granted a full royal pardon by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V on May 16 and released from prison.
He joins his daughter, Nurul Izzah (Permatang Pauh MP), as a PH backbencher. His wife, Deputy Prime Minister and Pandan MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, occupies the seat next to the prime minister, who represents Langkawi.
The Dewan Rakyat will see changes in its seating arrangement since it adjourned on Aug 16. The lower house now has five independent MPs, including Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli) and Datuk Seri Anifah Aman (Kimanis), who quit Umno.
Datuk Rozman Isli (Labuan) was the latest to quit Umno, shrinking further the party’s representation in the Dewan Rakyat to 51 as opposed to the 79 it started with, as first-time opposition.
Rozman is now Parti Warisan Sabah’s ninth MP.
PKR has 50 representatives in the Dewan Rakyat, DAP (42), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (13), Parti Amanah Negara (11), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (19), Pas (18) and Sabah local parties, namely Upko, PBS, PBRS and Star, one seat each.
Malaysians can expect to tune in to hot debates, including the abolition of the contentious Sedition Act 1948, as well as laws that allow for death by hanging.
Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the plan would be to replace the death sentence with a minimum 30-year jail term.
The government’s arms have been sitting to make good on their promise to do away with “oppressive laws”, which include the Prevention of Crime Act 1959, the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and the National Security Council Act 2016.