Umno’s Nazri says Perikatan govt’s move to slash MP’s allocations a punishment against voters, not himself

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — Umno’s Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has again issued a critical remark against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration, this time against his MP allocations which he claimed were slashed significantly.

Nazri also chided Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when he said the reduced allocations would be seen as a punishment against his constituents in Padang Rengas, and not towards Nazri himself.

“Muhyiddin needs to remember that if he wants to punish me — it’s not me who is being punished. It’s the people. He is punishing the people.

“I supported the budget and he has a responsibility to ensure the people of Padang Rengas receive the same allocation that was promised to other MPs who backed the budget,” Nazri was quoted saying in a Malaysiakini report.

The former minister also called on Muhyiddin to honour the promises made in Budget 2021, one that Umno had backed through all Parliamentary stages, saying the constituents are the ones in need of the allocation.

“But it’s up to him if he wants to discriminate against the people in Padang Rengas. The money has nothing to do with me, my duty is just to pass the budget to the people,” he was quoted saying, referring to Muhyiddin.

“If they ask me, I will tell them that PN did not provide the allocation.”

Nazri was not the first Umno MP to express such treatment, with his party president and Bagan Datuk MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi asserting that allocations for him, Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan and Machang MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub were also reduced.

Incidentally, these four MPs have been the more vocal of their dismay towards the PN administration, with Nazri and Ahmad Jazlan having issued separate public statements of them withdrawing their support for Muhyiddin’s government.

Nazri, when asked if he saw the slashed allocations as a form of punishment for publicly withdrawing support for Muhyiddin, said he could care less if it was.

“I don’t care. I simply don’t know [why], you will have to ask him. I am not going to cover up for him,” Nazri added.

Recently, Ahmad Zahid sarcastically “thanked” the government for the RM100,000 allocation for his constituency, asserting that MPs within PN were enjoying a RM3.7 million allocation.

The Umno president had similarly called on Muhyiddin to treat all those who supported his Budget 2021 equally.