When Pakatan Harapan MPs staged an unprecedented walkout in the middle of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s Budget 2017 speech, the premier accused them of turning their backs on the people’s welfare.

The MPs had embarrassed themselves, he said, while his ministers accused the MPs of being immature, childish, or rude.

While that may be the case, Malaysiakini’s analysis of Najib’s budget speeches since the tabling of the 2010 budget shows that there is also credence to opposition MP Liew Chin Tong’s complaint: that the prime minister was taking pot-shots at the opposition, and they have had enough.

Increasingly, Najib’s budget speech has become more than just a statement on government policy, and an opportunity for him to score political brownie points against his opponents.