Najib holds the budget text before tabling Budget 2017 in parliament. — Bernama photo
KUCHING: DAP, PKR, Amanah and PPBM (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) parliamentarians staged a walkout at 6pm yesterday when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was tabling Budget 2017 in parliament.
Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen told The Borneo Post that it was done because Najib, from the beginning did not show he was serious in tabling the budget.
“All of us in DAP, PKR, Amanah and PPBM walked out. He (Najib) was not serious in tabling the budget. He was putting up a “show, rather than presenting a budget to the whole nation,” said Chong who is also state DAP chairman.
He said that in the beginning, there was already a powerpoint showing BN signage in the parliament which was not right.
“And most of the time, he (Najib) was not talking about the budget. He was just putting up a show. There was also no mention of a fight against corruption in view of the Sabah Water Department case.
“He was not doing what a prime minister should do,” said Chong.
At about 6pm yesterday, Najib rebutted the argument of certain opposition leaders.
He argued that his budget was not without substance as claimed by some opposition members.
The commotion started when the opposition MPs started to express verbal objection to what Najib was saying with many of them standing and protesting while holding placards.
The speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia appealed for them to be quiet to let Najib continue, but was ignored.
Finally, Pandikar told them to leave the August house if they were not willing to continue to listen to the budget speech which the opposition MPs including former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and PPBM president did.
They staged a walkout en bloc just before Najib concluded his 2017 Budget.