The Marang MP said the federal government should be fair to its “enemies” and respect the “rights” of the opposition, adding that this was in line with Islamic and democratic principles.

“We have to be fair even with our enemies, all the more since we come from the same country. We merely have different (political) views,” he told a press conference last night.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) leaders such as Hadi and PN secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin have been urging the government to give equal allocations to all MPs, including the opposition, in the past week.

Hamzah said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stood to win brownie points if he agreed to set aside allocations for opposition MPs, while PN’s Arau MP Shahidan Kassim slammed the government over the lack of allocations for the opposition in Budget 2023.

This was backed by electoral reform group Bersih, which said it was time that opposition MPs were given equal constituency allocations, regardless of their political alliances.

However, deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi fended off these calls, asking PN instead if it had given equal allocations when it was heading the government.

Opposition MPs had only received equal allocations under Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the then government and Pakatan Harapan.

The 148 government MPs receive RM1.3 million a year each for constituency development, an amount that is many times higher than the allocation for opposition MPs. The MPs are free to use the funds as they see fit, including paying the expenses of running their service centres.