THE Dewan Negara yesterday approved the Supplementary Supply Bill (2012) 2013 which provides an additional RM513,469,560 as the first supplementary development expenditure for several ministries and departments.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan, in winding up debate on the bill, cited three factors for the higher cost of the 13th general election compared to the 12th.
One of the factors was an increase by 2.34 million to 13.26 million in the number of registered voters.
“As such, the cost of printing the electoral rolls and ballot papers went up,” he said.
Another factor was the increase in the number of Election Commission (EC) workers, from 147,887 in GE12 to 234,905 in GE13, with their allowance rising from RM1,045 to RM1,570 per person and contributing to the higher cost, he said. At the last Dewan Rakyat session, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, in his reply to a question, said the cost of GE13 approved by the Finance Ministry was RM400 million, double that of GE12.
Meanwhile, Ahmad also said that the cost incurred in handling the Blackout 505 rallies totalled RM127,000.
“The cost included RM13,000 for handling the rally in the Bukit Aman area; RM79,900 in the Kuala Lumpur area; RM9,000 in Selangor; RM14,000 in Terengganu and RM10,000 in Negeri Sembilan,” he said.
On the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), Ahmad said the government would take into consideration the cost of transportation for the recipients who lived in the rural and interior areas to come to the urban areas to collect their vouchers. — Bernama