KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat has approved the RM6.947 billion allocation for the Prime Minister's Department under the 2021 Budget with a 105-95 vote.
Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said 20 members of parliament were not present during the voting process.
Several opposition members of parliament had earlier caused an uproar upon seeing Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (Pas-Kota Baru) entering the chamber, arguing that the voting process had ended.
However, Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) stood up and said there was no time limit for bloc voting.
Azhar, in response, said MPs were allocated 10 minutes to cast their votes as per consensus by the whips, but would set a two-minute limit for the subsequent voting.
The opposition demanded bloc voting after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri (the last agency under the Prime Minister's Department) had wrapped up the 2021 Budget debate at the committee stage.
The bill was passed at the policy stage through voice voting on Thursday, raising the ire of many who questioned the opposition's decision not to call for bloc voting despite heavily objecting the RM322.5 billion budget.
Opposition leader PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim later confirmed that he gave opposition MPs the order to stand down and that the leaders of the other Pakatan Harapan components did not share his stance.
He justified the move by saying that the bill could be amended or rejected during the committee stage.
Attempts by several MPs to initiate bloc voting on Thursday failed when only 13 of them stood up, less than the required 15.
MPs began debating the Supply Bill 2021 at the committee stage at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today, with the focus trained on agencies under the Prime Minister's Department and the Finance Ministry.