PH to table first budget, Anwar returns to Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: The second meeting of the first term of the 14th Parliament, which is to begin today, will see the tabling of the 2019 Budget, the first national budget prepared by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government after winning the May 9 general election and putting an end to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) 61-year rule of the country.

The tabling of the budget by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng on Nov 2 is probably the much awaited event as the public are eager to see the ‘prudent budget’ arrangement by the federal government as the country faces various challenges in terms of fiscal position.

Prior to this, Lim was reported to have admitted that the 2019 Budget will be a difficult one for the federal government.

Even though Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has hinted that the national budget for 2019 will be smaller than the previous year’s due to unfavourable economic conditions, many still have high hopes that the new government will not jeopardise the economic wellbeing of the people.

In the 2018 Budget, the BN government announced an allocation of RM280.25 billion for operating and development expenditures.

The second meeting of the 14th Parliament will also see the return of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the Dewan Rakyat after he won the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election with big majority of 23,560 votes on Saturday.

The parliamentary seat was vacated by Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah to make way for Anwar, who is also PKR and PH de facto leader, to become the country’s eighth prime minister.

The last time the former deputy prime minister contested in general election was in 2013, during which he won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat by defeating Mazlan Ismail (BN) and Abdullah Zawawi Samsudin (Independent) with 11,721-vote majority.

However, he was disqualified as the member of Parliament (MP) after the Federal Court upheld his conviction and five-year jail sentence in 2015.

On May 16, merely a week after PH received the people’s mandate to form a new government, Anwar was released from prison after being granted a full royal pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.

The composition of seats in the Dewan Rakyat will also see a slight change as BN is left will only 51 seats after three UMNO MPs, namely Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli), Datuk Seri Anifah Aman (Kimanis) dan Datuk Rozman Isli (Labuan), quit the party.

Mustapa and Anipah are now Independent MPs, while Rozman decided to join Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan).

This brings the total of Independent MPs to five, and Warisan MPs, nine.

The number of seats for other parties remained unchanged with PKR having 50, followed by DAP (42), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) (13), Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) (11), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) (19), PAS (18) and Sabah local parties, namely UPKO, PBS, PBRS and Star, having one seat each.

The motion to abolish the Sedition Act 1948 and laws that prescribe mandatory death by hanging, are also expected to be among the main agenda and hot topics of debate during the meeting.

It was reported that the Attorney-General Chamber’s was in the midst of preparing the papers concerning the motion to abolish the laws.

Before the May 9 general election, the PH vowed to abolish ‘oppressive laws’, which included the Sedition Act 1948, Prevention of Crime Act 1959, Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, National Security Council Act 2016 and laws that prescribe mandatory death by hanging.

The second meeting of the first term of the 14th Parliament, which will take place for 30 days, will also see the tabling of the Half Term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan by Dr Mahathir on Oct 18.

Dewan Rakyat secretary Datuk Roosme Hamzah in a statement recently said the debate on the review would begin in the second week of the meeting.

“The tabling of the 2019 Budget is scheduled for 4 pm on Nov 2, followed by the debate at policy level in fourth and fifth week, before being taken to the committee level in the seventh and eighth week.

“The last two days of the meeting will be allocated for other bills and government matters,” he added. – Bernama