KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s budget announcement this morning at the State Legislative Assembly was ‘illegal and unlawful’, according to the state opposition DAP.State party chairman Wong Ho Leng added that the proceedings was a ‘breach of the standing order’ and that the CM’s budget introduction was ‘tainted with impropriety.”
Taib, who is also state finance minister, had tabled the Supply (2012) Bill, 2011 during the State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.
According to Wong apart from failing to give the opposition assemblymen advance copies of the Supply Bill 2012 and the Supplementary supply Bill as mandatorily required by Standing Order 63, the assembly had also switched off all their microphones.
“We are saying the whole procedure this morning is wrong. It is irregular and breached standing order and it is therefore unlawful.
“The budget introduced by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is very much tainted with impropriety and illegality for being in breach of the mandatory requirements of standing order 63.
“Standing Order 63 has mandatory or compulsory words and it says the draft estimates of state expenditure and revenue for the succeeding years should be laid upon the table before the introduction to the Dewan of the annual supply bill.
“Now all these documents were received by us at 10.07 am this morning. Standing order 65 is also breached,” said Wong, Bukit Assek assemblyman.
He was commenting on the first day of the sitting of the state assembly, the second after the April state election.
There are 15 opposition assemblymen – 12 DAP and 3 PKR – and one independent member in the 71-member State Legislative Assembly.
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