BUDGET 2022 was passed at the policy stage by a voice vote after it was put to the House for voting, with debates on the budget to resume at the Committee Stage this coming Monday.

       A voice vote is when members of the House call out “setuju” (aye) or “tidak” (no) when a Bill is put to the vote.

       However, attempts to get the budget passed via bloc voting failed as there was an insufficient number of parliamentarians in the House yesterday.

       The voting was called after Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz Tengku Abdul Aziz completed his speech at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

       Several opposition members from Parti Warisan Sabah led by Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) stood up after Tengku Zafrul wrapped up his ministerial replies, and called on the Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun for a bloc vote to decide the budget.

       However, Azhar noted that an insufficient number of MPs were present, as a minimum of 15 MPs must be on hand for bloc voting to take place.

       There was a tense moment shortly after Tengku Zafrul concluded his ministerial replies over the issue of remuneration for former prime ministers before the budget was then put to the House for a vote by Azhar.

       In an immediate response, Pakatan Harapan said it was leaving the door open on how its MPs will vote on Budget 2022 when it comes up for the final vote on Dec 13.

       “The Presidential Council will decide to continue discussions with the government (on the budget).

       “Any decision on the approval of Budget 2022 at the committee stage will be decided later,” Pakatan said in a statement yesterday.

       The statement came after its MPs decided to allow the budget to be passed at the Policy Stage yesterday by way of a voice vote.

       While there were points that Pakatan said it agreed with in the budget, there were also matters that it disputed.

       “As such, at the policy stage, it was decided to have a voice vote in view of the disagreement on several matters on the budget,” the statement read.

       Pakatan said it will continue to engage with the government on the budget to ensure equitable distribution of allocation for the rakyat.

       It added that it will also push for increased allocations for Sabah and Sarawak, including Malaysians who are in need due to the Covid-19 pandemic.