In a Facebook post, Najib said if the logic of remaining in the Cabinet is to maintain accountability and preserve Umno’s reputation, its Cabinet members have a duty to address government decisions that harm Malaysians, citing recent examples.
He told the Umno ministers to push for a Parliament sitting, as “Malaysia is the only country in the world that has suspended its constitution and Parliament on the pretext of curbing Covid”, and pointed to statements made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who said Parliament can sit during an emergency.
Najib also questioned the new ordinance allowing the prime minister and chief ministers or menteris besar to pass supplementary budgets and use consolidated funds without having to go through the legislature during the emergency period.
“Where is the existence of democracy in a world where the government does not have to be accountable to Parliament in terms of government spending?” he asked.
He said the Umno Cabinet members must bring a motion to Parliament when it sits to lift the government’s debt level above the 60% ceiling currently in place, repeating his earlier claim that it had reached 62.2% by the end of last year.
He also took issue with the cancellation of the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail project and the plan for a high-speed rail link with the line ending in Johor, which he said would “cost basically the same”.
“As a result, the government has paid RM320 million in compensation to Singapore and affected the profits of the project forever,” he said.
Najib also took aim at the decision made by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd to sell the country’s largest semiconductor company, SilTerra, to Chinese buyers for RM273 million at a time when the industry is set to expand.
“The money from this sale is not even enough to cover the RM320 million compensation cost to Singapore,” he said.
On the delay in implementing the Undi18 Act until September next year, Najib gave credit to science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin and youth and sports minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican for their support for separating automatic voter registration and lowering the voting age to 18.