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THAM Yun Fook (Warisan-Likas) said opposition assemblymen were also elected by the people and deserve office allocations after RM33 million in additional funding was proposed for the Chief Minister’s Department.

“We assemblymen from the opposition bloc were not nominated, we were not simply chosen. We were elected through the last general election by the people,” he said.

“It is fine if there is no allocation for us because we are the opposition, but when this much is given to the Chief Minister’s Department, perhaps consideration could be given to providing us with offices,” he said when debating the Supplementary Supply Bill 2026.

Tham said some of his fellow opposition assemblymen did not even have an office and had to serve constituents through WhatsApp or phone calls.

“I am grateful because I am willing to use part of my own salary to cover rent so far. I hope I can hold on for five years,” he said.

He said providing office space for opposition representatives would give constituents a proper avenue to seek help, adding that without it the Government would appear to be ignoring the voices of the people.

Additionally, he questioned whether there had been weaknesses in the State Government’s original planning for Budget 2026 after the Government sought RM1.6 billion in supplementary allocation just seven months after the RM6.4 billion budget was passed in December.

“At that time, the Government and the Finance Minister said the budget was based on revenue projections, development priorities and development needs that had been carefully planned.

“But today, only seven months later, the Government has applied for another RM1.6 billion in supplementary spending,” he said.

Tham said a variance of five to 10 per cent from the original budget could be considered acceptable, but the current request represented a 25 per cent increase.

“Were there projects that were not taken into account when Budget 2026 was tabled and passed last year?” he said.

He said he did not object to additional spending as long as it benefited the people, but he wanted the Government to clarify the reasons for the shortfall.