KUCHING: Mas Gading MP Mordi Bimol, who stood up to support the bloc vote on the budget at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, said he did not get the message about a last-minute change in his party’s position.
He said initially the unanimous decision was to vote against the budget.
However, after finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz announced more goodies for the people during his winding-up speech, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim decided to call off the divisional vote via WhatsApp.
“But I was carried away with feelings of dissatisfaction as various allocations for my constituency were cancelled (during the winding-up speech),” he said.
“So I didn’t bother to check my WhatsApp and missed the party’s instruction,” he told FMT. “All the DAP MPs just laughed at me as I was the sole DAP MP who stood up.”
However, he had not received any negative response from his party leaders, including the secretary-general (Lim Guan Eng).
“Nonetheless, the fight goes on. We will continue to debate on the parts that we disagree with at the committee stage,” he added.
“The finance minister has yet to answer some of the questions raised, especially on how much the allocation for the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) will be cut,” he said.
Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen also said the opposition MPs will debate the budget allocations for every ministry in the coming weeks.
He said even if all ministries were approved, the third reading of the budget was also subject to voting.
“If the Prime Minister’s Department cannot satisfactorily answer the queries of the MPs on the expenditure proposed, then we may call a division, where every individual vote will count,” he said.
Chong, also the Stampin MP, also clarified that Mordi was not aware of the last-minute decision. That was why he had stood up to support the bloc voting, he added.
“Not everyone received the message on time. But, that’s all right,” he added.