This is my speech on Parliament Budget delivered on 13th November 2024,, in Parlimen Malaysia.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I refer to item Supply 1, which is the budget of the Malaysian Parliament. At the beginning of this year, my committee and nine other committees were told that the allocation for overseas travel was RM200,000 per year for each special select committee.
In August, I sent a request for the budget, to visit Turkey and Azerbaijan for nine days, using economy class plane tickets, two-star hotel accommodation and public transport for nine Members of Parliament and one official. I was told that Parliament has no more appropriations for this year. Last year 2023, the travel budget for my committee was the same as this year; a big fat zero.
It is very unfair that my committee, the International Relations and International Trade Committee, did not receive any travel budget for this year and also last year.
On the other hand, the APPGM SDG, which is not even a Standing Order body, received RM10 million this year and YAB Tambun in his budget speech said he would increase it to RM20 million next year. But my APGGM, which is Political Financing, has zero budget. As far as I know, other APPGMs also do not have a budget. To quote Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
I understand that in Malaysia, the Parliamentary Financial Administration is overseen by the Chief Administrator. Therefore, I refer to point B1; please provide details of where are the allocation items for the ten Special Select Committees of Parliament? Is it under the details of “Parliamentary Affairs” or “Special Programs” or “One-Off”? In the United Kingdom, the Parliamentary budget is drawn up by Members of Parliament through the House of Commons Commission Executive Board rather than by administrators. After all the UK Parliamentary budget process is distinctly separate from the UK National Budget process. The budget allocation of the UK Parliament, is firmly in the hands of the Parliamentarians. With permission, since we are on the similar topic, I need to ask, where is our promised Parliamentary Services Act? If the government does not want to table PSA this year, let us at least have a say in our select committee budget.
Mr Speaker, in the United Kingdom, I further note that they allocate 0.09% of the total budget for their Parliament. If Malaysia uses the same percentage of 0.09%, the Malaysian Parliament should receive RM380 million a year, not RM180 million. Some may say that we cannot compare ours to the UK, because the UK is richer than Malaysia. Well, let’s compare then with our neighboring country, Indonesia.
The Indonesian committees are known in Indonesia as “Komisi”. The Indonesians have in total 13 commissions. When I visited the DPR of Indonesia, I saw with my own eyes, every Indonesian Komisi has its own offices, with some committees even have their own building, and several of their own meeting rooms.
An Indonesian MP, who is also the head of the committee told me that each committee are allocate a minimum of RM10 million per year, ringgit not rupiah, with about 30 to 50 staff for each committee. How do we compare? On paper, I can’t find any separate allocations for the special select committees in the Malaysian Parliament budget, but it is definitely nowhere near RM10 million a year. By my calculation, it is around RM300,000 a year. Committees in Malaysia have no offices. Our secretariat in Malaysia is not 30 or 50 people but only two persons with and one back up for each committee. This is astoundingly and embarrassingly inadequate compared to our economically poorer neighbor.
Therefore, I demand that my MADANI Government to give a fair budget to all the committees, so that we can all perform our duties and functions. Committees need adequate resources to function, so to better defend the Constitution, consider bills, provide policy directions and checks and balances to the Executive. You can do with just two officers and a miserable RM300,000 a year!
What is a fair budget amount? For me, an allocation of RM2 million per year for each committee is fair. We need RM1.5 million a year to obtain the services of professional researchers, a professional office, and pay the salaries of 20 officers. A balance of RM 500,000 per year can be used for overseas travel for all nine committee members, and including a budget for austere entertainment and gifts. This is not a lavish request, compared to the overseas travel expenses of ministers and GLCs, who travels on private jets or business class; whereas we are committee to travel on economy.
This year alone I have received 17 visits from diplomats, foreign Parliamentarians and dignitaries in Parliament. They visit and bring gifts and books, but we, as hosts, are empty-handed, with no budget. Sometimes I tell my officer to rush to the Parliament shop, buy Parliament pins as a token for dignitaries.
I am not asking the Government to cut the APPGM SDG budget, but asking the government to give our select committees the same budget as the APPGM SDG, which is RM20 million a year. I also want to inform everyone in this hall that when Tengku Zafrul was Minister of Finance under YB Bera’s Government, I was the one who requested allocation from Tengku Zafrul and he approved the allocation of RM15 million to all committees. At that time, Tengku Zafrul did not even have a Reform agenda but he clearly understood the importance of committees to Malaysian democracy. So, what then is our RM20 million request in the context of the MADANI Government’s RM421 billion Budget? Mr. Chairman, RM20 million is only 0.0047% of the budget.
Finally, I urge the government to approve the requested RM 20 million and take necessary steps so that members of Parliament such as YB Paya Besar, the Backbencher Chairman as well as many senior members including the opposition, can be involved in the B1 Parliament budget process, next year.
