Malaysian government pushes through vote on fuel price hike

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's ruling coalition pushed through a vote supporting its fuel price hike in parliament on Monday, but the opposition said the debate highlighted intense public opposition to the move.

The Barisan Nasional won the vote 129 to 78, and avoided a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi which a minor party in the 14-party coalition had campaigned for.

Abdullah has been fighting for his political survival since a drubbing in March elections, and this month's 41 percent increase in petrol prices has put him under further pressure.

"They wanted to turn this into a vote of no-confidence in the PM but the Barisan Nasional was united," said cabinet minister Nazri Aziz.

"There is no question about BN MPs wanting to jump over to the other side," he told reporters, after the opposition said it would soon form a new government with the support of defecting lawmakers.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad told parliament that Malaysia could not continue to pay out for expensive fuel subsidies.

"One of the reasons the government was forced to increase the fuel price was because the subsidy, which was 8.8 billion ringgit (2.5 billion dollars) in 2007, was expected to reach 27 billion this year," he said.

"We cannot afford this," Shahrir said, adding that the government had taken measures to protect citizens from inflation.

The Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance said it was reluctant to mount a formal no-confidence vote, but that the parliamentary debate emphasised unhappiness with the government's performance.

"The Pakatan Rakyat are trying to highlight the problems with government policies, and our opposition to today's motion shows the people's lack of confidence in Abdullah," said Azmin Ali, vice-president of Keadilan, which heads the alliance.

"This is something which we can use to send a message to the government. The present leadership... are incompetent to manage the economy and the future of Abdullah to lead this country is untenable," he told AFP.

Two lawmakers from the Sabah Progressive Party, a coalition member which dropped a bombshell last week when it called for the no-confidence vote, were absent from parliament after saying they had received threats.

"Events in the last 24 hours have taken a disturbing turn. Among others, we have received reports of intimidating and bullying tactics," the president of the Chinese-based party Yong Teck Lee said in a statement.

He said there had been text messages and phone calls "implying threats" to the two MPs and their aides, and that at a gathering of the ruling party UMNO "aggressive words touching on racial incitement were used."

Its parliamentarians had been recalled to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah state on Borneo island to discuss their safety and that of their families and offices, he said. - AFP/de

Channel NewsAsia
24/06/08