LETTER | Warisan lawmakers have every right to be frustrated with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over the "last-minute instructions" issued to opposition lawmakers during last Thursday's Budget 2021 policy-stage vote. 

But no lawmaker has the right to be absent from Parliament without justification. Frustration with the leadership does not justify absence from a bloc vote. And that includes a lawmaker's protest against the legitimacy of the government. 

Lawmakers owe a duty to the rakyat to be present in the Dewan Rakyat. Period.

Lawmakers should know better that there are two main stages to getting a budget through Parliament. The first is the policy stage which was done with last week. The second is the committee stage, which started yesterday (Monday).

Anwar has explained his last-minute decision not to proceed with a bloc vote. While the decision "had put everyone in a very difficult position", Anwar had also vowed that he would be calling for bloc votes during the committee stage when each ministry's budget would be put to debate and voted one by one.

To his credit, Anwar stood up in Parliament yesterday to highlight an increase of allocations for contract staff hired under the Prime Minister's Department for what he described to be political appointments by the government. 

But he lost on the bloc vote, the first of two bloc votes yesterday. The second was on the Finance Ministry's allocations. On both bloc votes, there were notable absences on both the government and opposition benches.

The "decisive victory" for the government led to shouts of 2-0 from the government bench. There are 25 more debates to go before the budget - Supply Bill 2021 - is tabled for third reading and a final vote on Dec 17.

Will the lawmakers continue to be absent in dereliction of their duty to the rakyat?

Let it be known that commonwealth governments have been defeated on particular measures contained within budgets. For example, in 1994, the then British government was defeated on a proposal to increase the rate of VAT (value-added tax) on fuel. This forced the chancellor (finance minister) to bring forward a new package of measures to deal with the unexpected loss of revenue.

The defeat might not be fatal to the government that would bring it down. But it is likely that the government would face a vote of no confidence shortly afterwards, as its ability to command the will of Parliament would be in question.

So c'mon YBs! Stand up and do your duty for the rakyat.

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