KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 ― The Selangor government today approved several amendments to its Royal Allocation Enactment affecting the emolument for the state Ruler and the royal household in its state Budget for next year.

State executive councillor for Housing, Urban Welfare and Entrepreneur Rodziah Ismail read out the proposals at state legislative assembly after Friday prayers, before they were universally passed by the House.

She said the allocation for Class III for next year is down to RM6,647,877.63 from RM7,309,831.61 ― a reduction of RM661,950.98.

Meanwhile, the funds for Class IV is raised to RM16,143,993.22 RM15,214,569.20, due to changes in the instruments and allocation for contracted staff for the royal household.

The emoluments for Class VII regarding Royal Council members and District Orang Besar also saw an upward revision to RM1,462,499.79 from RM1,160,799.79.

The final adjustment is to Class VIII for the Raja Muda Selangor’s funds, which are reduced to RM389,640 from RM492,830.

During the brief debate preceding its passage, Pakatan Harapan (PH) backbencher Saari Sungib (Hulu Kelang) said Selangor’s constitutional monarch system has been a successful model of transparency as well as providing check-and-balance to the state government.

He drew comparisons between Malaysia and the UK and Queen Elizabeth II, claiming the constitutional monarchy system in both countries are models for democracies.

"We could see how our Ruler also participated by stopping the Emergency plan by the government,” he said.

Saari was alluding the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s rejection of a proposal by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government to invoke a state of emergency, ostensibly to cope with the third wave of Covid-19 infections that have seen daily cases rise to four-figures in the past few weeks.

Lau Weng Sang (PH-Banting) also suggested that Istana Alam Shah in Shah Alam be open to the public as a museum to emulate the British royal family.

However Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari (PH-Sungai Dua) said a royal gallery next to the Palace was already open and will be used to attract tourists and research by academicis on Selangor history and culture.

"Right now we already have the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery next to Istana Alam Shah which also exhibits artifacts and royal documents.

"In our economic plan, we want to use it as a royal heritage to tell the history of our Selangor state,” he said.

On October 30, Amiruddin tabled the Budget for 2021 amounting to RM2.32 billion.

He said of the total, RM1.22 billion or 53 per cent was for operating expenditures while RM1.1 billion or 47 per cent was for development.