Guan Eng: New Treasury ordinance ‘a cruel April’s Fool’ on parliamentary democracy

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 1 — Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has warned against the recent Emergency ordinance enabling Putrajaya to tap into the Treasury’s consolidated funds without parliamentary oversight and scrutiny, describing it as an extremely dangerous power accorded to the prime minister.

He said that the nation’s tens of billions of ringgit can now be determined by one man instead of going through the check and balance system of parliamentary democracy.

In a statement, Lim likened the ordinance to “a cruel April’s Fool” on parliamentary democracy that grants the prime minister unfettered powers on the nation’s financial coffers.

“This is another act of treachery by the Perikatan Nasional government against Parliament and the Federal Constitution.

“Knowing that he will need to reopen Parliament to seek approval of Supplementary Budgets, to sanction the additional spending over and above the 2021 Budget, the prime minister has instead chosen to bypass Parliament completely,” he said.

Such a power granted to the prime minister can only be accomplished by financially guillotining Parliament, which Lim said is the correct platform to check possible abuses of power, financial misappropriation, and misuse of public funds for political purposes.

“Supplementary budgets can be legally delayed until the end of the year for parliamentary approval. This means that supplementary budgets for additional spending made can still be approved by Parliament when the Emergency ends and Parliament reopens after August 1.

“Granting absolute financial powers to the prime minister may also help to avoid answering embarrassing questions. For instance why has the PN government’s debt ballooned for government gross debt issuance for January to February 2019, 2020 and 2021 (without redemption) with a 60 per cent increase of RM 11.5 billion for the first two months of 2021, compared to 2020 under the former Pakatan Harapan administration?

“If such borrowings are genuinely meant for battling Covid-19 and to help the people overcome the economic recession, the Opposition would not only support but may even seek additional and increased spending,” he said.

The Bagan MP noted that this lack of parliamentary oversight also presents an elevated risk that any new spending made by this government would not be properly accounted for, especially ensuring that it benefits the rakyat instead of cronies.