KUALA LUMPUR: Budget 2017 made it through the policy stage last night and while most lawmakers participated in the voting process, the majority of PAS MPs did not.
Eleven out of 14 representatives from the Islamist party opted out of voting for the budget, while its president, Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS-Marang), did not even attend the sitting.
The other two were Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (PAS-Dungun), who was also absent, while Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) was the only one who cast his vote, voting against the budget.
When asked as to the reason why PAS had abstained from voting, Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi (PAS-Temerloh) said it was because they supported certain aspects of the budget but disagreed with others.
“PAS has opted for our own approach. “There are things we oppose and we already opposed it during the debate. This includes the GST (goods and services tax) and 1MDB, too,” he told reporters outside the Parliament lobby here.
He added that further discussions would be held on the appropriate course of action when the Budget 2017 comes to the committee stage vote.
Debates on the budget at the policy stage went to a bloc vote yesterday evening and was passed with 117 votes in favour and 70 votes against.
It will now proceed to the committee stage where the process of debates and winding-up will again be repeated.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who tabled the budget on Oct 21, was also absent during the voting.
He was in Parliament, but did not enter the Dewan Rakyat and surprised many when he left the compound right before the budget was put to a vote.
