Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar
KUCHING: Any Member of Parliament who is against the 2021 National Budget is blocking the government’s intention to help the nation and its people, says Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
He said if the passing of the 2021 National Budget is delayed, it would mean that all strategic projects implementation like the Pan Borneo Highway in Sarawak and Sabah, and other such projects throughout the country would also be delayed.
If that happens, the nation’s economy as a whole would worsen, he added.
“What about the millions of small-medium enterprises or industries (SME/SMI) including informal businesses that cannot get support and assistance from the government? The unemployment and livelihood of millions of B40 and joblessness?” he said.
Commenting on the passing of Budget 2021 at the policy stage in Parliament yesterday, the Santubong MP said it was very important to get through the second reading of the Bill for the budget as it allows the MPs to scrutinise the details at the committee stage.
“This too is no less important to get the budget passed according to the government planning and programmes,” he said.
Wan Junaidi said the budget’s main objectives, apart from providing for salaries of the civil service, agencies and development, were firstly to address the Covid-19 pandemic and to spur the nation’s economy resulting from the Movement Control Orders (MCO) and weakened global economy.
Therefore, he said, politically any MP who does not support the budget would appear to block the government’s good intention to help the nation and its people.
However, Wan Junaidi said, this could not be translated into the support to the prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government on other issues which are of different perspectives.
“Nevertheless, the good 2021 Budget reflects the prime minister’s good leadership thus eventually leads to good rating by the people and electorates,” he said.
The passing of the Budget was seen as an indication that Muhyiddin still has the support in Parliament to continue leading the nation as the prime minister.
The budget, the first tabled by the PN government led by Muhyiddin, is Malaysia’s biggest yet at RM322.5 billion.
The budget will be now debated at the committee stage for 10 days starting Monday.