KUALA LUMPUR: Members of parliament (MPs) from both sides of the divide have expressed dissatisfaction with the government's decision to cut development allowance from RM3.8 million to RM1.3 million.
A Pakatan Harapan MP, who declined to be named, said that he had only received allocation totalling RM1 million compared to RM3.5 million in the past.
He lamented that with the sum, it was tough to be able to assist voters in his constituency.
"If we were given more allocation, it would be easier to help voters directly, swiftly and efficiently because applications (for assistance) from agencies or government departments take a long time," he said.
However, he believed the allocation he had received will be increased after the tabling of the 2023 Budget.
He also asked for allocations for government and opposition MPs to be of the same amount.
Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung hoped that the allocation will be raised when the nation's financial situation improved.
He described the allocation as important for the people and hoped it will be distributed in accordance to a formula based on the number of voters and parliamentary geographical factors.
"It will be unfair for Petaling Jaya, which has 200,000 voters to get the same allocation as Putrajaya, which has 43,000 voters," he said.
Another PH MP, who wanted to remain anonymous, said a proposal of allocation based on the total number voters in a constituency will be highlighted to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in a meeting with government MPs on Feb 12.
"An amount of RM1million, if it is compared to be used in a rural and urban area, will not suffice. The number of schools in a rural area and an urban area is not the same, so are the number of surau and mosques," he said.
Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal of Perikatan Nasional said he was forced to use his own money to assist voters.
Opposition MPs, he claimed, have not received any allocation from the government for now.
"We have not gotten any allocation although PH had promised against doing (this) in their manifesto," he said, adding he would bring up the matter in the next parliamentary sitting.
Today, Anwar Ibrahim confirmed that the development allowance for MPs has been reduced to RM1.3 million from RM3.8 million.
Anwar said this move was meant to better control the country's finances and would be implemented in stages.
He said this involves the development allocations of MPs coordinated by the District and Land Office, and State Development Officer.
However, Anwar said the government would consider extending additional allocations if there were pressing needs in a particular parliamentary constituency, such as for repairing infrastructure.
Media reports have said the constituency allocations for government backbencher MPs this year have been slashed by more than 65 per cent, from RM3.8 million to RM1.3 million.
According to the reports, the amount consists of a RM1 million outright grant and another RM300,000 for service centre operations.
Earlier, Bersih was reported to have supported calls by opposition MPs, including Arau's Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, for the unity government led by Anwar to distribute equal amounts of allocations to all MPs.