KUALA LUMPUR – Penang’s opposition assemblymen will continue to receive RM60,000 annually in constituency allocations, less than their state government counterparts.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow reiterated the figures today, a Malaysian news portal reported, adding that the funding system will remain as has been done before.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen, meanwhile, will receive RM500,000 per year.
Chow, who was speaking at a press conference at Komtar in George Town today, said lower allocations will continue to be given to opposition lawmakers.
The issue of equal constituency allocations was revived, following the Penang state elections on August 12.
In the polls, PH and BN won 29 out of 40 seats in the Penang legislative assembly, while the opposition, Perikatan Nasional, won the remaining 11.
On August 29, Chow said that all assemblymen, including those in the opposition, will use the remainder of the allocation from 2018 to 2023.
There were suggestions that equal constituency allocations be given, when on October 25, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, also from DAP, said that opposition MPs shouldn’t have to beg for more allocations. He recounted how he and his colleagues, when they were in the opposition, had struggled to serve their constituents. – November 7, 2023