KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 – Opposition Pakatan Harapan federal lawmakers failed to vote down Budget 2016 was passed at the policy stage after a bloc voting in the Dewan Rakyat here on Monday night. Opposition MPs had called for a bloc voting, which ended up in 128 ayes and 74 nays. Debate on the budget had been completed at the policy stage.
The next is the committee and final stage of debates for the Budget to be approved. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohmad Hanadzlah was the last minister to wind up the debates after the Budget was tabled on Oct 23. It is not known if opposition party PAS joined the Pakatan Harapan representatives in not voting for the budget.
The Islamist party had previously declared that its lawmakers would not vote against the Budget. But the party’s parliamentary whip Datuk Mahfuz Omar said he was among three PAS MPs who decided to vote against the Budget. He said there were 10 PAS MPs present.
He also added that the other two who voted against were Pasir Puteh MP Dr Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad and Kubang Kerian MP Ahmad Baihaki. Earlier, Ahmad Husni said also no when responding to questions by Rafizi Ramli (PKR-Pandan) on whether the Government would raise the quantum of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from its present 6% to 10% in move to lower the national deficit to 0.6% by 2020.
Besides that, Rafizi said there were talks that the GST would be raised to achieve the national deficit target as oil prices were expected to drop. However, Ahmad Husni said these were based on speculation as oil prices were determined by demand and supply including output productions set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Ahmad Husni also reminded Rafizi that the Government was not “living with tunnel vision.”
He stressed that their vision is farsighted, they will discuss with the agencies, consultants, analysis and others when the Government has never considered or discussed raising the GST to reach the deficit target. On the issue of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)’s power unit, Ahmad Husni assured lawmakers that the sovereignty of the nation would not be compromised.
This came after Opposition lawmakers expressed concerns over the sale of Edra Global Energy Bhd to foreign consortiums, which some said would hold the country at ransom for its energy needs. Several people also said that Tenaga Nasional Berhad would lose its influence in the next five to ten years. In additional, Ahmad Husni also added that the opening up IPP tenders to others was not unique to Malaysia as even countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Bangladesh had also been done on it.
