Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee said the announcment made by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on the current projection of the national economy last Tuesday was only a normal administrative process by the ruling government.
“If there is additional (allocation), the government will make it as a supplementary…This announcement (on the national budget rationalisation) is relating to several new programmes that are implemented and others not being implemented.
“Standing order (to be presented in Parliament) is only needed if it involves a top-up to the budget,” he told reporters after receving a courtesy call from a delegation from the Korean parliament Health and Welfare Committee at Parliament building here today.
Kiandee was commenting on the statement by Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua, who claimed the prime minister insulted Parliament for making an announcement on the status of the economic development outside the Dewan Rakyat.
Last Tuesday, Najib tabled the strategies and proactive steps on ensuring that Malaysia’s growth and development could continue following a change in the global economic landscape at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
Meanwhile Kiandee said the Dewan Rakyat session would sit for 20 days from March 9.
However he said any further enquiries on the matter would only be informed one week prior to the sitting.
On the courtesy call, Kiandee said, among others, it was aimed at enhancing bilateral relationships between Malaysia and South Korea, especially in the field of health.
Kiandee said the delegation also requested for the Malaysian Parliament’s support on their committee’s efforts to form a parliamentary association on medical and health care.
The 14-member delegation was led by its Health and Welfare Committee chairman Kim Choon Jin while South Korean envoy to Malaysia Cho Byungjae was also present.
— BERNAMA
