2017 MP allowances to be paid this year

KUALA LUMPUR: The conference (sitting) allowances of Members of Parliament (MPs) for November and December 2017 amounting to RM1.2 million will be paid this year, according to the Malaysian Parliament.
In a statement today, Parliament said it received 299 claims from MPs for both months, but the payment had to be postponed to make way for payment on claims for 2015 and 2016 amounting to RM1.33 million.
"As the claims were submitted to Parliament late, they have to be paid using the current year's allocation after obtaining approval from the Ministry of Finance," the statement said.
The statement said, for October last year, all claims including the Conference Allowance for Members of Dewan Rakyat had been paid.
Parliament issued the statement to refer to the issue raised by Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming concerning the conference allowance for the Third Meeting, Fifth Term of the Parliament of Malaysia which he said had not yet been paid as reported by a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday.
In the same statement, the Malaysian Parliament stated that every year, the management had issued letters asking all MPs to submit claims during the current year to avoid the problem of payment.
However, according to the statement, the recommendation was still not followed.
The statement clarified that if the MPs cooperated by submitting claims in the current year, the issue would not arise because it was not due to lack of government funds or the allocations provided were used for other purposes.
"The parliament and the government are very concerned about the welfare of all MPs at all times and will take appropriate action to ensure that their welfare and interests are protected all the time," it said. — Bernama