In a Facebook post, the former prime minister said that Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok had said on Nov 2 that the allocations for her ministry had been slashed by 50.7%.

“And why did the Sungai Petani MP from PH, Johari Abdul, express regret that the various subsidies for farmers had been reduced in Budget 2019?”

Earlier today, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had refuted claims that the government did not prioritise allocations for rural development, including to institutions such as Mara.

He said allocations for institutions tasked with helping rural areas had in fact increased, even doubled in one instance.

Lim said there was an allegation that Mara’s operating expenditure would be cut from RM2 billion to RM1.3 billion.

This, he explained, only appeared to be so because the agency’s scholarship and student loans were now classified as development expenditure instead of operational expenditure.

But Najib, who is also the former finance minister, said the RM2 billion sum was still RM500 million less than the RM2.5 billion allocated for the agency by the Barisan Nasional administration.

“And it’s odd that he (Lim) didn’t mention this.”

Najib went on to ridicule Lim’s assertion that the allocation for Felda had been increased to RM260 million from RM160 million.

He said the previous administration had set aside more funds for Felda including a total of RM474.78 million as special incentives for 94,956 families of Felda settlers nationwide.

Najib also said the amount for BR1M, a cash aid which benefited many in the rural areas, had also been reduced.

“This is all stated in black and white in the Budget 2019, yet the finance minister still wants to deny this?”