By Shikin Louis
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6: The federal government is open to individual negotiations with any Member of Parliament (MPs) regarding constituency development allocations, says Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof.
Fadillah who is the Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) and the unity government chief whip, said the government’s recent offer through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been rejected by the Opposition, particularly Perikatan Nasional (PN).
“However, the federal government has received a counterproposal from YB Muar (Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman), and the Government Whip is currently reviewing the proposal and will respond to YB Muar.
“The federal government remains open if there are any MPs who wish to negotiate individually,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech for Budget 2025 in Dewan Rakyat which was broadcast live on the Malaysian Parliament’s YouTube channel today.
He was responding to questions relating to constituency allocations for all MPs including Opposition MPs.
On Sept 15, Opposition leader Dato Seri Hamzah Zainuddin announced that PN unanimously rejected two MOU drafts for MP allocations from the federal government.
He claimed that certain conditions in the MOU are against the Constitution, including saying that the draft’s terms can be manipulated due to lack of a clear operational framework.
The following day, Fadillah made public the two sets of drafts for the MOU between the unity government and PN, aimed at proving the federal government’s transparency and brushing off Hamzah’s ‘baseless’ allegations. — DayakDaily
