PAS leaders need to examine the parliamentary allocation that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) parliamentarians obtained when Perikatan Nasional (PN) was in power in 2020–2022, before stating that allocations should naturally be given to all MPs, said PKR Setiawangsa Youth information chief Muhammad Azha Salahudin.He added that PAS keeps claiming that it is a ‘right that needs to be exercised’ but that is not the case.
However, Azha did admit that PH MPs were given allocations while in opposition only after the coalition signed an MOU with the Barisan Nasional (BN) and PN government headed by former premier Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.He refuted the statement by PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man that the PN government has always given allocations to opponents.“Tuan Ibrahim is advised to stop rather than continue to deceive the people and use the issue of parliamentary allocation as cheap political capital to spread hatred against the unity government.“I would like to remind him, that when PN was in government led by Ismail as Prime Minister, dissident Parliamentarians from PH only received allocation after signing a MOU on Transformation and Political Stability with the government on Sept 13, 2021,” Azha said in a statement.Moreover, he claimed that now PN MPs have to go through the same process established under Ismail to negotiate their allocations with the current government.
In April, three PN MPs were selected to represent the coalition in talks with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof on allocations for opposition MPs.Furthermore, Tuan Ibrahim stated that the three MPs were Parliament’s opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, Kota Bharu MP Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan and Putrajaya MP Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.“We have three representatives from the opposition to hold negotiations, which are expected to be held shortly,” he said.
Since then, relations between the ruling coalition and the opposition appear to have deteriorated. Then came the state elections in six states, three controlled by the PN-PAS and three by the PH-BN.
The results were not totally in favour of the opposition as they only won the three states under their rule while they let Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan slip to the unity government. – Oct 29, 2023
