SHAH ALAM - The Madani Government is urged to allocate funds to Opposition MPs, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pledged during his tenure as Opposition leader.
Bersatu Information Chief Datuk Razali Idris stressed the importance of fulfilling this commitment, aligning with Anwar's recent statement affirming that no conditions would be imposed on opposition MPs to declare support for the Prime Minister in order to receive the promised allocations.
Razali also slammed the government's inconsistency with its statements over time.
"If no conditions are required, the allocations should have been approved by the Prime Minister long ago to be distributed to all Opposition MPs and Independent MPs.
"This is because what we demand is actually Anwar's promise when he was the Opposition leader.
"Anwar promised that if Pakatan Harapan (PH) succeeded in taking over Putrajaya and he was appointed Prime Minister, he would allocate funds equally to Opposition MPs.
"However, until now, all Opposition MPs have not received any allocations, even though the majority of DAP and PKR leaders, including Anwar, spoke about providing equal allocations to opposition and government representatives during the 15th General Election (GE15) campaign," he told Sinar yesterday.
Razali made these remarks in response to Anwar's statement on Friday, assuring that the government would not impose conditions for opposition support to receive allocations.
Contrary to Anwar's assurance, Razali highlighted the divergence in perspectives within the leadership of DAP.
Razali noted that during debates in the Parliament and State Assembly, DAP representatives emphasised that Opposition MPs would only receive allocations from the government if certain conditions were met.
In light of these developments, Razali expressed Bersatu's support for the Prime Minister's latest statement, highlighting the need for a new act ensuring equal allocations for government and Opposition MPs, as well as Senators.
"It is time to remove clauses granting discretionary power to the Prime Minister in allocating funds to Opposition MPs," he stressed.
Meanwhile, Pas Information Chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said he leaves it to the Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, and Pas Vice-President Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan to negotiate with government representatives regarding these allocations.
"All statements regarding negotiations to obtain financial allocations must be referred to the Opposition leader," he said, declining to comment further.
Bersatu supreme council member and Hulu Terengganu MP Datuk Rosol Wahid reiterated that he is unsure whether the government wants to allocate funds to Opposition MPs.
"We don't want to comment further. Whether they (the government) want to give or not, we leave it to them. We leave it to the Opposition leader to continue negotiations with government representatives in the near future," he said.