THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Fright for BN as Budget passed by 66-63 votes
It was fright night for the BN as the national Budget was passed by a wafer-thin 66-63 majority in Parliament last night.
That’s 48 per cent attendance for the BN MPs and a 77 per cent turnout for the Pakatan reps.
Najib and Ong Tee Keat reportedly had to rush to Parliament to vote – and this was for their “1Malaysia Prosperity for All” Budget.
It just goes to show how much importance these missing MPs place in Parliament when they can be absent during such a crucial debate and vote.
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Tapah MP saves the day for BN
Tapah member of parliament M Saravanan turned saviour for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday with his vote ensuring the approval of the Supply Bill 2010, better known as Budget 2010.
The drama began late last night when the Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia called for voting for the passing of the bill, deemed to be an important component of the government's expenditure for next year.
The ruling coalition managed to get the bill approved with a one-vote majority, 64 against 63 votes of the opposition bloc, thanks to Saravanan's late-minute vote.
"I had a function to attend in the city last night. During the event, I got a call from someone in Parliament asking me to rush to Dewan and that a voting is being conducted in the Supply Bill.
"It was about 10.40pm when I managed to relieve myself from the function and rushed to Parliament.
"I was in the nick of the time as the Speaker allowed me to cast my vote. To my relief later I learnt that the Bill was passed by a single vote majority," Saravanan, who is also Federal Territories and Urban Well-being deputy minister, told Malaysiakini when contacted.
Najib was called back too
He also thanked his lucky stars, because the function he attended was close-by to the Parliament, enabling him to rush to the Dewan Rakyat within minutes after getting the alert.
The failure to pass the Bill, which is basically the 2010 government budget, would have resulted in the ruling coalition needing to retable the entire budget, resulting in throwing a spanner in the works of development projects planned by the ruling government.
It would also have been as major embarrassment for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who were both in the Dewan Rakyat until late yesterday, as this could have been the first budget not passed by Parliament in the nation's history.
Both Najib and Muhyiddin too had to rush to the Parliament to ensure the budget was approved in their favour.
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