Report: MPs, including Opposition, receive special allocation from PM to aid constituencies
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — MPs from both sides of the political divide have started receiving the Prime Minister’s Special Allocation for the final four months of this year to help their constituents recover from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 crisis.
Those who signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last month were said to have received RM500,000, while those who didn’t were given the usual RM100,000, news portal The Malaysian Insight reported today.
Ipoh Timor MP MP Wong Kah Woh from DAP said he received RM250,000 on October 1 and has spent it to help schools in his constituency while the rest will be used to help those in desperate need of aid.
“They [schools] can use the money to buy computers, tablets, printers and payment of Internet fees. The amount allocated is from RM5,000 to RM20,000, depending on the number of students,” Wong was quoted saying in.
“For the next RM250,000, my focus will be on helping those who are badly affected by the epidemic,” he said, adding that the money will be disbursed to lawmakers on November 1.”
Kangar MP Noor Amin Ahmad said he used the money for infrastructure development and charity programmes.
“In 2019, which was the first and only time I had received a full year’s allocation, a quarter was allocated for the education sector such as schools, parent and teacher associations, sports, etc.
“Half was spent on festivities, gotong-royong activities, holding dialogues and sports societies.
“The rest are for contributions [to the people] either [through] money, equipment or food baskets to various vulnerable groups,” the PKR lawmaker was quoted saying.
The MoU was signed by Opposition MPs from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, represented by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Sabah-based United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob from Umno.
Parti Pejuang Tanah Air or Pejuang and Sabah-based Parti Warisan Sabah rejected the MoU, saying they had not been consulted ahead of time.
Warisan MP Datuk Darrell Leiking told TMI he had only received the usual RM100,000.
Dubbed the “Memorandum of Understanding on Political Stability and Transformation”, the MoU was meant as a ceasefire to put an end to the political instability, allowing both sides of the political divide to work on economic recovery efforts.
Prior to the MoU signing, Ismail Sabri in a statement said the bipartisan cooperation — the first in the country’s history — was in line with the royal decree outlined by His Majesty Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah earlier today where all parties needed to practice “deliberative democracy”.
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