KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 —The Dewan Rakyat today passed a motion to reduce the allocation for the expansion of the Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) by RM45 million, from RM81.5 million as originally provided in Budget 2021.

The bill went through a bloc vote with the results of 107 for, 100 against and 13 absentees.

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri tabled a motion today to halve the allocations for Jasa and the issue was hotly debated during today’s Parliament session.

Abdul Rahim said that Jasa, now known as the Community Communications Department (J-Kom), has a different role as it is to build a digital ecosystem community thus accelerating migration to the digital world.

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All of the opposition bloc was against the Jasa allocation and wanted it removed in its entirety citing it as a propaganda tool for the current administration despite it being rebranded as (J-Kom).

Communications minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah tried to extol the virtues of the agency and its need to disseminate information to the masses but was met with heavy resistance from the MPs from Puchong, Tuaran, Shah Alam and several others.

In the end, after the bloc vote was made, the bill was passed and the motion to remove RM45 million from the total was approved.

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