Fadillah (centre) prepares the bubur lambuk to be distributed during the event, while Tupong assemblyman (third left) Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman and others look on. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (March 17): Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof is set to meet with the Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin next week to discuss issues faced by the opposition parties.
This comes after a postponed meeting last Tuesday due to the opposition’s busy schedule.
“I was supposed to meet with the opposition, including Datuk Seri Hamzah, last Tuesday, but they requested the meeting to be postponed.
“The next meeting will be held next week, and I am still awaiting their response for the date of the meeting.
“I want to hear their requests, only then can I present them to the government for discussion and negotiation,” he told reporters during a ‘bubur lambuk’ distribution programme at Surau Al-Hidayah, Taman Sejoli in Petra Jaya here today.
Fadillah’s remarks came after Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman recently stated that his parliamentary constituency has not received any allocations from the federal government, despite having met with the Deputy Prime Minister three times to discuss the issue.
Fadillah denied that the former president of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) had met with him three times to discuss the issue.
According to Fadillah, Syed Saddiq had only met with him twice, but he was unable to make any decision as allocation issues needed to be discussed with the Opposition leader.
“I need to meet with the opposition leader before discussing allocation issues like with him (Syed Saddiq),” he added.
Syed Saddiq was reported to have asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to explain the issue.
The allegations were contained in an oral question in the Dewan Rakyat as published on the Parliament’s website.
In a written response to address Syed Saddiq’s raised question, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa stated that over RM300 million had been allocated through the implementation of projects in Muar.
Last year, Anwar announced that the government was willing to offer the opposition equal allocations given to government MPs.
However, the opposition must go through the proper process to receive equal allocations and that proposal must be submitted to Fadillah.