Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob says there are some legal and constitutional questions to be answered before he will decide on who reads the budget speech in the Dewan Rakyat. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, August 30, 2022.
PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is ready to consider tabling Budget 2023 instead of Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, if legally allowed to do so, he said earlier today. However, the prime minister said he would wait for the advice of Attorney-General Idrus Harun, adding that it is a legal issue.“We have to look at it from the constitution and legal perspectives. If it is not permitted, I cannot do it, but if it is permitted, then it can be considered,” he said in Putrajaya.
On August 27, Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin reportedly said that the prime minister is permitted to table the Budget. A day prior to this, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that the date of the budget speech had been brought forward to October 7. – Bernama, August 30, 2022.