THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Every government in the world has slush funds. This is part of how governments operate. And Malaysia is no exception.
Malaysia’s expenditure is supposed to be approved by Parliament, normally around November every year. If Parliament does not approve the following year’s budget, then come 1st January it would be illegal for the government to spend money and at the end of January government servants cannot get their salary.
Just to digress a bit, Pakatan Harapan is ruling Malaysia with a slim-majority. That is what prompted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad so say earlier this week that if just one party leaves the coalition the government will collapse. And it does not have to be the party with the largest number of seats.
Say, when the budget is tabled next month, less than 111 MPs vote to pass it (meaning less than 50%) whereas those who vote against it outnumber those who voted for it. What will happen?
Anwar can oust Mahathir through a back-door vote of no confidence in the budget session next month
Technically, this tantamount to a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister and he will have to step down. This means if anyone