Special allocation to be given equally to all MPs beginning September

KUALA LUMPUR: Both government and Opposition MPs will be given equal allocation under the Prime Minister's Special Allocation for the final four months of this year, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Special Functions) Datuk Mastura Mohd Yazid.

She said the move was in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's commitment to implementing the transformation of Parliament.

Speaking while winding up her debate on the Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat today, Mastura said the special allocation for Parliamentary constituencies was in addition to, and to complement the allocation provided by the government under the five-year Malaysia Plan.

She said the provision of Parliamentary Constituency allocations to government and opposition MPs with different values previously, was in accordance with the existing policy, and it also depended on the government's financial position and capability.

During the debate session, several MPs including Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Independent-Muar), Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) and Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) suggested that the allocation should be distributed equally to all MPs.

Commenting on the COVID-19 Death Management Special Assistance, Mastura said as of Sept 17, a total of 4,274 beneficiaries had received the RM5,000 assistance, totalling RM21.37 million.

She said of the 6,248 applications received, 12 applications were ineligible or rejected as the deaths were not due to COVID-19, while the remaining 1,962 were being processed, including the verification of citizenship status with the National Registration Department and cross-checking the data given by the applicants with the Ministry of Health (MOH).

"NADMA is constantly improving the relevant processes to ensure that eligible applications will receive assistance within 30 working days with access to JPN's (National Registration Department) myID system and the Putrajaya MOH COVID-19 death data portal.

"Recently, the approval process has been expedited further by only taking into account the documents submitted by the hospital confirming the death due to COVID-19 and the death certificate from JPN," she said.

-- BERNAMA