KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has made it unequivocally clear that he will not authorise budget allocations for members of Parliament from the opposition unless negotiations are conducted with the federal administration.
Speaking in Dewan Rakyat, Anwar said Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs must emulate Pakatan Harapan's (PH) strong spirit when negotiating with former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob when the coalition was in the opposition bloc.
He also revealed that a series of negotiations had been done with Ismail Sabri in September 2021, which resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide equal allocation distribution for all MPs in both blocs.
"You have to negotiate and reach an agreement (with the government). Your allocations won't be approved till then.
"However, you refused to have a negotiation. Hence, I will just let it be, and I will never approve (it) if there is no negotiation.
"So, negotiate properly, don't be arrogant," he said during the Finance Ministry's winding-up session of the 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP) mid-term review in Dewan Rakyat today.
This comes after the prime minister was met with criticisms from opposition MPs following them not getting an equal allocation for development purposes in their constituencies.
Following this, Anwar told the opposition to be specific in their statements, as the federal government had provided allocations to allow PN states to be further developed.
He also cited the increase in allocation for PN-led states granted by the government, namely the increase for the flood mitigation programme in Kelantan.
"You cannot say there is no allocation (for parliamentary constituencies).
"But you can say that there are no direct allocations for MPs. so do not twist the facts."