YB Nurul Izzah on whether Pakatan Rakyat’s Members of Parliament should receive allocations to service their constituencies.
The expected traditional role of an Federal Territory MP covers not only parliamentary duties but also patronage related activities -mainly linked to welfare distribution to constituents/ institutions/ organizations within his/her constituency.
Ideally, an MP should focus on raising pertinent local and national issues at the parliamentary level, whilst being supported by assembly persons and an elected local government adept at servicing the constituents’ needs.
But Federal Territory MPs do not have state assembly persons. Additionally, they are mostly at the mercy of the federal appointed Mayor and City Hall officers who decide matters most sacred to KL, Labuan and Putrajaya -issues of licensing, enforcement and servicing.
Hence, regardless of who gets the allocations, what matters most is accountability. Each RM must be spent fairly and efficiently, with the Federal Territory rakyat in mind.
For now, with DBKL fully deciding on how the RM 2.12 bn is being spent for this year, the Pakatan Rakyat Kuala Lumpur MPs are working around , creatively and exhaustively, without any say on how the money is spent, and without access to the RM 1 million that goes directly to the party in power.
In conclusion, the allocation need not be passed through us, but it must be made accountable and transparent to the rakyat. That’s the issue, and that’s what you should raise.
Thanks
Izzah
