The Malaysian Insight

FISHERMEN and farmers are hoping the government will reinstate the handouts, subsidies, equipment and special assistance that were either slashed or stopped last year when Budget 2020 is tabled today.

Their demands include training, monsoon subsidy and allowances to deal with their precarious livelihood.

Fisherman, Mazlan Othman, 56, said life is a constant struggle as he only earns RM500 a month because of declining catch.

The fisherman from Teluk Ayer Tawar, Penan,g said he needed the RM300 assistance that the previous Barisan Nasional government handed out to survive.

“We don’t get aid when it’s the rainy season, we are living hand-to-mouth daily,” he said.

“The federal government is only giving us oil subsidies and monthly allowances but that decreased from RM300 in BN’s time to RM200.

“We were under the impression that with a change in government, we would get more aid but the opposite has happened,” he said.

Fishermen also needed an allowance to buy fishing gear, he said.

“The government needs to provide assistance or subsidise our equipment. For example, the price of a fishing net RM100, that is very expensive,” he said.

“We have to change it every three months as it will be damaged and at sea, seven or eight nets are used per year which cost RM700 to RM800.”

Small-time farmers also hope that the government will increase its RM600 aid for the monsoon season between November and January.

Kedah Small Farmers’ Association secretary-general Ainol Salleh Shafie, 50, said preference should be given to rubber tappers.

“During BN’s time, rubber tappers working on others’ land also got the assistance. Now, the assistance is only given to the landlords,” he said.

“We hope that in Budget 2020, the government can widen its help to all rubber tappers and to small farmers who cultivate all types of vegetation,” he said.

Ainol, a tapper in Baling, Kedah, said farmers also needed monthly allowances of RM200 like fishermen.

A vegetable farmer in Tasek Gelugor, Zakaria Ismail, 30, said he hoped the government would improve the agricultural training in Budget 2020.

He has been growing a variety of fruits since he was 21 and said the current training programme doesn’t appeal to youngsters.

“Agricultural courses or training modules are more academic these days, they are being held in the classroom and that’s why most young people are not interested.

“Farm training needs to be done in the farm, sitting in the middle of the heat, only then will the young people be more interested. So far, only one or two agricultural courses have been conducted in farms.”

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng will table Budget 2020 this afternoon. – October 11, 2019.