ALOR STAR: The federal government has been urged to consider approving a development allowance to Members of Parliament (MPs) based on the needs of each constituency.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said Putrajaya should instead consider increasing the allocation for rural areas as compared to urban seats which have much better infrastructure.
"Hence, when (the federal government) decided to slash the allocation (from RM3.8 million to RM1.3 million) the MPs will have to prioritise as they are getting just some RM100,000 per month to operate their service centre.
"I think for a parliament constituency as big as Baling, the annual RM1.3 million amount is too little as compared to a small constituency like Putrajaya which has much better infrastructure as compared to Sik and Baling constituencies that have many poor rubber tappers.
"Thus, it is unfair to give an equal allocation for all parliamentary constituencies because each constituency has different needs, the weightage is different such as area size, population, socio-economy and so on.
"For example, the allocation for the Tambun parliamentary constituency, probably can be channelled to Sik. Anyway, the MP is not taking pay (prime minister's salary) and there is better infrastructure there, so Sik is ready to receive the allocation (from Tambun)," he told reporters after presenting incentives to athletes representing the Kedah contingent in the Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) held in Kuala Lumpur last year.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed that the development allowance for MPs had been cut to RM1.3 million from RM3.8 million.
Anwar, who is also Tambun MP, was reported as saying the move was aimed at improving control of the country's finances and would be implemented in stages.
He said the move involved the development allocation for MPs coordinated by the District and Land Office and state development officer.
He said the government would consider providing additional allocations if there were pressing needs in some parliamentary constituencies, such as for repairing infrastructure.
It was reported that the RM1.3 million allocation for MPs consists of a RM1 million outright grant and RM300,000 for service centre operations.
Commenting further, Sanusi said the reduction of the allocation, depite being a prudent move, was uncalled for.
"However, I think the move was uncalled for, instead it should be increased.
"The Prime Minister should have consulted Economic Affairs Minister on how to increase the allocation. He should have the right formula to solve problem," he said in reference to Rafizi Ramli.
Sanusi added that he expected the size of 2023 Budget to be smaller than the previous years since it would be only be approved earliest by end of March.
Earlier today, Anwar was reported as hinting that there may be allocation reductions in the 2023 Budget which will be re-tabled on Feb 24.
However, he assured that slashes in funds would not affect programmes for the people.
Anwar said he had tabled the strategies and initial figures of the 2023 Budget to his cabinet members today.