RM1 mil for BN MPs, RM500,000 for PR ADUNs - this is Discrimination, bad practice and should stop

Opposition MPs are unhappy that the government discriminates against them, and their constituents.

Malaysian Federal Constitution guarantees equality - and there is no justification why the Federal Government of Malaysia does not treat all MPs equally. 

Money - UMNO-led BN MPs get an annual grant for constituency development of RM1 million (I thought it was RM2 million), but not the non-BN MPs. Is this not discrimination? Yes, it is. The people democratically chose their MP, and it is wrong for the Federal Government to treat MPs differently, i.e. solely based on the political party they belong to. All MPs should get the RM1 million from the government.

But wait, the Pakatan Rakyat also practices similar discrimination. The Selangor government also give allocations to the ADUNs, but only the Pakatan Rakyat ADUNs - and this is also very wrong.

Pakatan Rakyat hence loses the moral standing to now criticize UMNO-led BN government preferential treatment of MPs and ADUNs belonging to BN parties (or friendly to BN). See earlier post:BN ADUNs should also get RM500,000 from Selangor Government. End discrimination - respect people's democratic choice

I expected Pakatan Rakyat to do better - and teach the BN good practices in a democracy. But alas, the justification is that BN gives only its people - so now, the Pakatan Rakyat also will give to its own people. Wonder Pakatan Rakyat is doing the same also when it comes to projects, approvals, etc. Will there be more development projects now (and money spend) in constituencies where the MP/ADUN is Pakatan Rakyat. Will those who chose BN be sidelined?   - Change. Respect people's choices and freedom to choose who they want.

Malaysiakini
Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael D Jeyakumar is seriously considering taking the federal government to court for withholding the annual grant for constituency development.

He said he has appointed a lawyer to study the matter and has given himself two months to decide whether or not to proceed with the suit.

“We want to make sure the case is watertight,” he said when contacted today. “The federal government has no right to withhold the money. This is the people’s money, not Barisan Nasional’s money. Who is using the money? Where is the accountability and transparency to ensure the money is well spent for the benefit of the people?”

Each parliamentary constituency is allocated RM1 million as an annual grant for development projects.

Jeyakumar – the sole MP from Parti Sosialis Malaysia – said that, to the best of his knowledge, opposition MPs have not received the allocation.

Two demands

If he proceeds with filing legal action, Jeyakumar indicated that he would seek two declarations from the court:

• that it should be left to the MP to choose the projects; and
• that the allocation should be disbursed in a transparent manner so that there is no abuse of the process.

He reiterated that he is merely fighting for the rights of opposition MPs who now face unequal treatment compared to their BN counterparts

“The grant is not for me, it is for the people. Let us be transparent as to where it is allocated,” he said.

Jeyakumar caused a major upset in the 2008 general election when he defeated MIC president S Samy Vellu, who had held the Sungai Siput seat since 1974.- PSM Website

By, the way the other interesting question is whether it is legal for the government to be giving such "development grants" to MPs/ADUNs directly? Is there any provision of law that allows for this? I do not think so. There are clear laws that provide for what is the role and responsibility of an MP/ADUN, and also how much he/she gets from the government?

MPs/ADUNs should bring to the attention of the relevant State/Federal Departments/Local Councils about things that need to be done - that is all. It is then the responsibility of the relevant department, who should be handling all these 'development grants', to do the needful? There is no need for individual MPs/ADUNs to be getting any money from the government. 

If money is to be given to MPs/ADUNs, it must be part of the budget - and, in my opinion, the only money that may be given may be rental & utility bills of service centres, salary/benefits of a certain number of support staff, etc - not money to 'bribe' the constituents to vote them in again. A bit of money for the youth football team, jerseys & trophy, some bags of rice, some RM to the poor/elderly, etc - is this not wrong. All monies should be disbursed by the relevant departments...not given to MPs/ADUNs, who then go around dishing out money/gifts pretending that it comes from them. That is what the BN was doing ...but Pakatan Rakyat and other MPs/ADUNs should not get into this bad practice.