Muar MP and Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has made an impact on Parliament after moving from the government side to the Opposition bench. His queries on allocations for MPs have exposed the unity government’s lack of commitment to reforms.

He raised the issue that his allocation was stopped after he moved to the Opposition bench and said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) promises of reforms were “lies”.

MP allocations have been a persistent issue raised by Opposition MPs in Parliament and despite a supposedly more liberal and previously reform-minded now status quo maintaining unity government, it remains an unresolved issue.

There really is no good reason why Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim should not give equal allocations to all MPs because it is not his money; it is taxpayers’ money and if a certain amount is allocated to MPs for constituency work, it is democratic to distribute it to all MPs. Failing to do so is simply being autocratic.

Anwar wants the Opposition to follow his example of asking his predecessor Ismail Sabri Yaakob for allocations for PH and PH-allied MPs. That was possible because he had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sabri to support the government. The Opposition — no longer a threat to the government — gave Sabri no reason not to comply. Although it was a successful bid, however, it wasn’t democratic because some MPs did not get the allocations.

MP allocations should not be used as leverage to get MPs to conform. It is taxpayers’ money that is the MPs’ right to have to serve their constituents and prime ministers have no right to withhold it and give it to whoever and whenever they wish.

Anwar could have broken away from the practice of the past and easily introduced a law or amendments to ensure that all allocations are equally given to all MPs. There is no justifiable reason why Anwar has failed to introduce such a law when it is in his power to do so.

The prime minister has not understood that his lack of action on this issue will backfire on him and the party that will suffer most from it will be his own, PKR. If an equal MP allocation law is not initiated now, when PH is no longer in government — that might happen sooner than expected — it is Anwar’s own party, PKR, which, as the Opposition, will suffer most without allocations.

PH partner DAP can raise private funds and could survive without MP allocations. Amanah, its other partner, if it can not survive has the option to join another coalition. But, what will become of PKR? Anwar has to think of his own party as well.

Syed Saddiq alluded to this when he raised the issue of MP allocations but all the queries are falling on deaf ears because MPs are not holding the prime minister to democratic principles and the federal constitution.

It is time that MPs started doing their homework on what the federal constitution states regarding the issues brought up in the Dewan Rakyat and argue and seek clarifications based on it.

Even with regard to Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s dismissal not amounting to a dismissal (DNAA), the questions regarding the PM’s role was restricted to the conversation he had with former Attorney-General Idrus Harun who had sought for Zahid’s DNAA.

Questions should have been asked about the reasons for extending the tenure of the AG and the constitutional basis for the decision. MPs should have a sense of what issues would be raised and seek clarification based on the constitution and principles of parliamentary democracy.

Even with regard to the sensitive issues of race, religion and royalty, the prime minister can be queried for the constitutional basis of his decisions. Constitutionally, MPs can not question the royals of their decisions and conduct. There is no need to. But MPs owe it to the people to question the prime minister of any decision or issue pertaining to royalty with regard to the running of the government.

If MPs know what the constitution says on the issues of race, religion and royalty, it would give them the confidence to query the PM with regard to these issues and hold him to abide by the rules of parliamentary democracy and the federal constitution.

The people are not interested in whatever personal explanations or bureaspeak the government spews. The people want to know if the government is operating within the confines of the law, the federal constitution and the principles of parliamentary democracy that we practise. Only MPs who know and understand democratic principles will have the courage to raise such issues and ground the debate according to the constitution. It will expose the abuse of power and poor governance.

Syed Saddiq, the lone people’s representative from Muda in the Dewan Rakyat, is doing his job but he needs more to join him. There should be more Muda representatives in Parliament and the state governments to fight on behalf of the people.

That can happen only if Muda proves to be a well-set-up grassroots-based organization. That’s the first thing Muda should do: Go town to town, city to city, and sign up members. When they have enough, hold party elections so that every person holding office in Muda is elected. It can then participate in a state or federal election knowing that it has a grassroots base that can be mobilised to get more voters.

If Muda gets itself more organised from the grassroots upwards, it can enter elections confidently and expect better results.