Malaysian opposition leader Anwar, assailed for backing Muhyiddin’s budget bill, goes on defensive
- Pakatan Harapan coalition leader vows to ‘fight more intensely’ next week after finer details of the bill are released
- Opposition lawmakers apologise over passage of bill, saying they will request a bloc vote on specific measures
Anwar acknowledged in a statement that even though members of the coalition had wanted to take a vote on the matter, “I decided as the Opposition leader and Pakatan Harapan chairman to request that the party whips not do so.”
Anwar’s statement came a day after Muhyiddin’s hotly debated supply bill moved past the policy stage despite the leader’s weak parliamentary support.
Many opposition lawmakers had expressed their lack of support for the supply bill and disappointment at the directive to let it pass, including members of parliament Akmal Nasir, Hassan Karim and Nurul Izzah, who is Anwar’s daughter.
“We were ready to vote down the budget until last-minute instructions to stand down came, which we adhered to as per conventions of party discipline,” the three said in a statement. “Our supporters have made it emphatically clear that it is crucial we are led by our conscience in matters of national importance. We want to honour that trust placed in us and therefore act accordingly.”
Pakatan Harapan had earlier intimated it would vote down the budget after the Perikatan Nasional government had failed to include some of its key demands in the bill. However, after the budget passed by vote by acclamation, only 13 opposition MPs stood to push for a vote by division – two short of the required quorum.
