ANN/THE STAR – Election promises made in the 15th General Election (GE15) should be honoured and equal allocations should be given to all MPs regardless of their political affiliation, said Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (Bernama, pic below).
The Perikatan Nasional chief whip pointed out that in Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) election manifesto dubbed ‘Tawaran Harapan’ (Harapan’s offer), it pledged to provide equal constituency development funds to all MPs across the political divide.
“Perikatan is urging the Prime Minister to guarantee that development allocations will be given to all MPs across the country, as implemented by the previous government,” said Takiyuddin.
He said that in the previous administration, constituency development allocations were channelled to MPs’ service centres through the Implementation and Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Meanwhile, Takiyuddin said that constituency allocations that benefitted the public shouldn’t be reduced at all.
“Though the government is said to be taking austerity measures in line with the country’s economic position, development allocations channelled through MPs that directly benefit the public shouldn’t be touched nor reduced,” said Takiyuddin.
Takiyuddin is hoping that the Federal Government-led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will prioritise Malaysians first.
Similar calls were made by Perikatan’s Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who said equal allocations should be given to all MPs.
Last month, Shahidan claimed that Perikatan MPs in Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu did not receive any allocation for their constituencies from Putrajaya.
On Friday, Anwar confirmed the reduction in constituency allocations for government backbencher MPs to MYR1.3 million.
During former premier Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, Peninsular Malaysia MPs from the Opposition who signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government received MYR3.5 million in outright grants and MYR300,000 for service centre operations.
In the same period, MPs in Sabah and Sarawak who also signed the MoU received MYR4 million in outright grants and MYR300,000 to maintain service centres.
