Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said there were 110 ayes and 104 nays, with six MPs absent.

Earlier, Azmin and Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) exchanged words on the expenses for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2020 summit held in November.

Azmin said that in October 2018, Pakatan Harapan (PH) had approved RM635 million for the conference but the amount was reduced to RM350 million in July last year.

Due to Covid-19, the Apec meeting was held online. This saw the ministry using only RM66.6 million while the remainder of RM233.4 million was returned to the finance ministry for use in its Covid-19 stimulus packages.

However, Lim said the figures were still too high.

“Are you ready to be probed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and to be accountable on the budget?” Lim asked.

Azmin protested that Lim was not allowing him to answer, adding that the DAP secretary-general was “playing politics”.

He abruptly ended his speech by saying that he would give a written reply.

Earlier, replying to Abdul Azeez Rahim (BN-Baling), who asked if there were any savings from Apec as the meetings were held online, Azmin said the previous PH coalition had spent RM350 million in stages – RM20 million in 2019, RM300 million in 2020 and RM30 million earmarked for 2021.

Azmin, who was the economic affairs minister under PH, said it was approved by former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and the PH government, but Lim said Azmin was purposely picking on him.

Azmin said the Apec meetings started in Langkawi in December last year and, since then, there had been 146 meetings, including among government ministries and agencies.

He said the Apec was organised during PH’s time and he was just continuing with the plans.

Malaysia, he said, successfully gathered 21 world leaders to attend the online meetings.

Azmin also said Apec 2020 was crucial to set the motion for the next few years as the meetings were being held after last year’s cancellation.