Kuala Lumpur: Opposition lawmakers lost by 10 votes in their attempt to block an RM6.9 billion in allocations for the Prime Minister’s Department (PDM) within Budget 2021.
The division of the House was triggered after Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun found those supporting and rejecting this via a voice vote to be indistinguishable.
“The results of the vote are as follows, not in attendance 20, do not agree, 95, agree 105,’’ Azhar announced after the division.
He added that the aforementioned allocation was considered as adopted in Budget 2021.
Unlike the policy stage voting for Budget 2021 last week, nearly all Opposition MPs had risen today when Azhar called for the division earlier. A minimum of 15 lawmakers must rise to trigger the division.
Prior to the announcement of the results, several Opposition lawmakers cried foul as a few government MPs had entered the Dewan Rakyat while the votes were being counted.
Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, along with several other Opposition lawmakers, had even asked the Speaker of the House to kick out the aforementioned government lawmakers.
However, at the time of writing, Malay Mail was unable to identify the supposed government lawmakers who had entered the Dewan Rakyat during the voting process.
Earlier today, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had raised concerns about PDM’s expenditure, its apparently huge cadre of ministers, the overlapping responsibilities of special envoys, and supposedly “politically” appointed contract workers.
