PMO pulls parliamentarian allocation for Muar, says Syed Saddiq
(Malaysiakini) – Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said he has received confirmation that his constituency was not listed for its annual allocation as a parliamentarian.
“I have contacted the implementation coordination unit (ICU) to confirm this, and I was informed that it was the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) themselves that did not include Muar on the list,” Syed Saddiq said in a message, as revealed by his fellow party leader Bersatu supreme council member Kadir Jasin in a Facebook posting today.
Syed Saddiq himself later said to the press in a WhatsApp message that he is using his entire salary for the month to provide for those who truly need the funds during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“One month’s salary. Yes, because until now my allocation as a parliamentarian has not been received.
“Many are suffering in Muar because of Covid-19 and need assistance as quickly as possible,” he said in the message.
In the message revealed by Kadir, Syed Saddiq said he wanted to question Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin first before taking any further action, out of his respect for his party president.
“When Covid-19 is flooding the country, this is when the people of Muar had their assistance pulled.
“What did I do wrong? Because I supported (party chairperson) Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Because I do not want to cooperate with (former prime minister) Najib Abdul Razak and (Umno president) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who are known worldwide as kleptocrats?” he asked in the message.
He has always remained with his party Bersatu from the very beginning till now, Syed Saddiq said, even through the threats he and his parents received and having his source of income pulled and losing his chance to graduate on stage.
“I have been offered all kinds of bribes to buy my soul so that I will stab my party in the back, so that I will hold a press conference to slam Mahathir and Muhyiddin.
“But I have remained loyal to the party from the start till the end.
“What wrong have the people of Muar done? What wrong have I done?” he said.
Kadir questioned whether the new Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is launching a “discrimination programme” by pulling Syed Saddiq’s allocation.
Is this the new Malay-Muslim government which wants to so-called save the religion, race and country from the DAP Chinese or will the government later blame this is as a mistake by the civil servants, he questioned once more.
“I still remember on the last night of the 14th general election campaigning period, (former minister) Daim Zainuddin and I joined the campaign in Pagoh to help the Pagoh Pakatan Harapan candidate (Muhyiddin),” Kadir said.
During the week of political turmoil shortly before the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, Muhyiddin had announced Bersatu was leaving the Pakatan Harapan coalition, effectively causing the Harapan government to collapse.
Mahathir, who is also the Harapan chairperson, responded by announcing he was resigning as Bersatu chairperson.
After several days of changing political alliances, Syed Saddiq remained loyal to Mahathir along with a small number of other Bersatu leaders.
The rest of Bersatu, under Muhyiddin’s leadership, joined forces with BN, PAS and GPS to form a Perikatan Nasional government.