As of the 12th. National Election 2008, the parliamentary seats of the governing coalition, Barisan Nasional versus the opposition at 140:82. Barisan Nasional in an unprecedented historic event has been denied the 2/3 majority and only managed to form the government with easy majority, something that never happened in Malaysia since its independence from British in 1957. So that is old news.
PM Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak tabling the 2010 "1Malaysia Prosperity for All" Budget
Yesterday 15th. Dec 2009, however, something out of the ordinary again happened. This time, the prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s debut Budget 2010 dubbed “1Malaysia prosperity for all” budget has almost been turned down by the Parliament when it barely obtained by a 66-63 vote margin at the third reading of the Dewan Rakyat. That’s 48 percent attendance for the BN MPs and a 77 percent attendance rate for the Pakatan reps.
It is reported that it is the first time that the national budget was approved with such a narrow margin, when a rejection would have a clear negative impact on the Barisan Nasional government. The parliamentary democracy practices deem a budget rejected as equivalent ot a successful non-confidence vote toward a government and indirectly opens the way to the formation of a new government. Before the critical Third Reading, the budget was approved with only one vote in committee-debate at the stage of the Home Ministry – which has been the last ministry to have its allocation approved.
No used crying over spilled milk now. Undoubtly this is already a blow to the face to Barisan Nasional, but should the opposition had managed to make use the once in a lifetime opportunity, the probable outcome would be phenomenal. The question now is where are the other 19 of Pakatan Rakyat’s MPs?
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Tags: 1Malaysia, 2010 Budget, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, government, Malaysia, Malaysia Insider, Malaysia News, parliament, politic, Prime Minister of Malaysia
