SHAH ALAM, 1 Dec: The Selangor State Assembly (DNS) Opposition Leader, Datuk Shamsuddin Lias, today reiterated the stand of all 12 Barisan Nasional (BN) Assemblymen to refuse the grant of RM200,000 per year from the state government.
He said that the action was taken on the principle of equality where the adequate provisions should be distributed equally to all Assemblymen in Selangor.
“We reject it on the basis of democratisation principles and on the basis of equality, it certainly should be given equally.
“If RM700 thousand is given to Government Assemblymen, the same amount should also be given the Assemblymen from the Opposition,” he told reporters when met at the compound of the Annex Hall today.
Prior to this, the Chief Minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali, when presenting the Selangor Budget 2015 worth RM2.4 million announced an allocation of RM200,000 per year to each BN Assemblyman starting next year.
Mohamed Azmin said that the allocation worth RM2.4 million will be given to the 12 BN Assemblymen to enable them to carry out people-oriented programmes in addition to ensuring that all representatives, regardless of political party, can come together and serve the people.
However, the provisions for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Assemblymen, for the purpose of people-oriented programmes, was increased by RM100,000, making it RM700,000 a year.
However, when debating the budget, Shamsudin said that the Selangor government’s move of supposedly presenting a balanced budget every year will eventually apply for a supplementary budget at the next Assembly meeting.
“Give the entire sum of RM700,000 to constituency coordinators and let them spend on programmes for the people. Even though (previously) we did not receive provisions from Pakatan Rakyat, we were still able to serve the people,” said the Sungai Burong Assemblyman.
When asked by the reporters whether Selangor Assemblymen from the Opposition received special provisions from the federal government for programmes for the people, Shamsudin said that they did not ask and it is up to the federal government.
“It is up to the federal government. We did not ask.
“However, the federal government has given a lot of help to the people such as the PPRT homes (Hardcore Poor Housing Project) and the BR1M (1Malaysia People’s Aid),” he said.
NS
