Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin says government’s proposed deal on fund allocation for MPs has ‘hidden agenda’

SINGAPORE: The chairman of Malaysia’s opposition coalition Muhyiddin Yassin has slammed a proposed deal on constituency fund allocations for its Members of Parliament (MPs) by the federal government, claiming that it was an attempt to silence them from speaking out on several issues.

The proposed allocated funds are meant to be used by MPs for their respective parliamentary constituencies.

Muhyiddin’s comments come after Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainuddin – who is also the secretary-general of Perikatan Nasional (PN) – rejected the proposed memorandums of understanding (MOUs), saying that it could affect the rights and privileges of the Malays and Bumiputeras in the country.

The latter is a term used to describe Malays, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the various indigenous people of East Malaysia.

On Tuesday (Sep 17), Muhyiddin said that the proposed deal has a “hidden agenda to curb the freedom of the MPs from being the voice of the voters who have chosen them to be their representation in Parliament”.

“For example, the MOU has a chapter especially on 3R issues (race, religion and royalty) that bars MPs from speaking out on them. Raising these issues is deemed as spewing hatred.

“This is not right. This country was built upon an understanding between the races or the social contract, which was then incorporated into the Federal Constitution,” he was reported as saying by The Star.

Muhyiddin added that the proposed MOUs would stop the opposition MPs from making statements that are “discriminatory to any other parties based on religion, race, or any other identity factors”.

“This identity includes LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) groups. Does this mean that if Perikatan MPs agree to the MOU, we cannot speak up on any policies or laws that may be enacted by the Pakatan-Barisan government in the future?” he reportedly asked, adding that this was against the values of Malaysians.