KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — The 2022 federal allocation for the Prime Minister’s Department was passed in the Dewan Rakyat this evening with just a voice vote, despite the opposition’s bid to block it to protest the government’s decision to consider granting Datuk Seri Najib Razak a RM100 million property.
Opposition lawmakers seemingly failed to muster the numbers needed to call for bloc voting against the RM6 billion budget, to be channelled into the ministry that would have granted the property to the former prime minister.
DAP had on Saturday proposed that Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs call for bloc voting in Parliament against the proposed allocations for the Prime Minister’s Department.
Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the vote would act as a symbolic protest against the Cabinet’s decision to grant Najib the property and restore the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project.
Malaysiakini reported that no attempt to call for a bloc vote was made from the opposition bench.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz revealed in Parliament on November 18 that the Cabinet had discussed Najib’s application for the property in recognition of his services.
The revelation sparked public outcry but did not help PH galvanise support to win the Melaka state election on November 20.
Barisan Nasional won a landslide victory, winning two-thirds of the contested seats but took just 5 per cent more of the total share of votes than it did in the 2018 general election.
PH trailed behind with just 3 per cent less of the vote shares. Some of its leaders argued PH could have won if not for the split in votes caused by Perikatan Nasional, led by a former ally Bersatu.
Najib was among key BN leaders who campaigned there.
