A leaner Prime Minister’s Department

The Prime Minister’s Department of Pakatan Rakyat will cost just a third of the budget allocated to the current PMD.

The Pakatan Rakyat Alternative Budget Committee has decided today that, in line with the spirit of “Kesejahteraan untuk semua”, the PR Alternative Budget will allocate a smaller allocation for the Prime Minister’s Department, most likely at the 2006 level which is slightly below RM 5 billion, in order to free up the budget for more pressing national priorities.

The Prime Minister’s Department’s allocation for 2011 is a whopping RM15.86 billion, with RM5.76 billion for operations while an additional RM 10.78 billion was allocated for development.

The total budgetary outlay for the PMD in 2010 was RM12.1 billion.

The huge increases in the PMD’s budget in 2009, 2010 and 2011 have never been seen before. The (actual) combined operating and development expenditure for 2009 was RM 10.18 billion while the (actual) expenditure for 2008 was RM 6.9 billion. The total for 2005 was just RM4.1 billion in comparison.

The PMD’s budget wasn’t so huge not too long ago. In the entire Eighth Malaysia Plan period (2001-2005), the development budget of the PMD was RM7.2 billion, or 4.3 per cent of the Plan’s total allocations. This means the development allocation for 2010 alone (RM 8.2 billion) surpassed the sum allocated for the first five years of the 21st century. Its development budget underwent a four-fold increase in the 9th Malaysia Plan , driving its allocation up to RM 29.6 billion, or 13.5 per cent of the Plan’s total.

The development allocation for PMD is discretional expenditure that allows the Prime Minister to approve it literally at the stroke of a pen, whereas other ministerial expenditures or treasury payments must pass through more rigorous checks.

Not only should there be more accountability, there should also be greater transparency. The rakyat deserves to know exactly what and where the PMD has been spending so much money on. We demand that PMD expenditure be made transparent and accountable.

Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS)        Rafizi Ramli (PKR) Liew Chin Tong (DAP)