'We walked out because the Budget didn't address the rakyat's issues' - Azmin

The reason why Pakatan Harapan members staged a walkout during the tabling of Budget 2017 yesterday was because the Budget failed to address the rakyat's issues.

Selangor Menteri Besar and PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said his Opposition members were only reacting to 'provocative remarks' made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

"It's very rare that the Budget tabling is politicised. Unfortunately, it happened yesterday," he said when met after officiating the Selangor Agrofest 2016 in Pantai Morib here today.

He was asked to comment on the netizens' reaction on social media slamming the Opposition's walkout, with many labelling it as disrespectful and unbecoming.

"It's not like we only sat for two minutes, we were listening intensely for two hours. Nevertheless, we will still scrutinise the speech and will definitely be involved in the debate later," said Mohamed Azmin.

Yesterday, after about an hour into the Budget tabling, members of the Opposition walked out of the Dewan Rakyat when Najib, in his speech, had questioned the Opposition's 'substance'.

The Opposition MPs, mostly members of Pakatan Harapan, responded with jeers and cat calls.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia tried to bring the House to order, telling the MPs that they would have their time to debate later.

When that didn't work, Pandikar Amin told them that if they could not contain themselves, then they should leave.

The MPs left, leaving almost half of the Dewan empty.

Najib continued his Budget speech shortly after.