Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim maintains that he supports giving equal allocations to all MPs, but says negotiations with the opposition bloc must take place first.
Anwar proposed that the government’s chief whip and relevant minister take charge of negotiations with the opposition on the matter.
“In principle, I don’t object to providing opposition MPs the same allocations given to government MPs. That has been my stand since before this,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
“However, the engagement process hasn’t even started. (There has) only been a process of making enemies.
“The faster we conclude negotiations, the faster the allocations can be approved. If we can conclude (talks) tomorrow, then we can approve (the allocations) by the following day.”
Anwar was responding to a question by Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau), who was following up on a request by Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin for RM300,000 to be given to MPs of constituencies that have been hit by floods.
Debating Budget 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Muhyiddin said these funds could be channelled directly to flood victims by the respective MPs. He described the flood situation in Johor as dire.
Separately, Anwar announced that Malayan Bank Bhd (Maybank) and CIMB Bank had agreed to provide a six-month moratorium for Johor flood victims.
He said the government would discuss with other financial institutions to see if they could follow suit.
Yesterday, Bernama reported that Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi made an appeal to the prime minister to consider a moratorium of between three and six months for flood victims in the state.
Onn Hafiz said the initiative would help ease the burden of the people who may have suffered huge losses because of the floods.
