The Malaysian Insight

PAKATAN Harapan (PH) has broken yet another of their election promises by announcing they will do away with the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) payouts, said former prime minister Najib Razak.

Najib said he saw no wrong in giving Malaysians the cash aid as it is simply distributing the country’s income.

“What is wrong if we take money from the rich and those who run away to pay those who are poor?

“Did PH forget that they promised to continue BR1M in their manifesto? Why are you going back on your promise and punishing the poor,” Najib said in a statement today.

He was responding to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s interview with The Malaysian Insight, where the prime minister had said Putrajaya will reduce BR1M payouts before weaning it out altogether.

Dr Mahathir had also accused the Najib administration for “spoiling” the people by making them think that without doing any work the government will give them money.

“Now we cannot give them the money because we are not stealing the money, but they still want the money (BR1M),” the prime minister had said.

Najib, however, dismissed allegations from Dr Mahathir that the money for BR1M was “stolen” to “buy over the people”.

“Isn’t it odd that BN ‘stole’ the money from the people only to return it to them later as cash aid?

Najib, who is also Pekan MP, said the money for BR1M payouts came from the subsidies and revenue from the goods and services tax (GST), and it was not used for political gain.

“We gave it to families based on their monthly income. It did not matter to us which party they supported,” he said.

He said BR1M would be key to reducing the income disparity between rich and poor Malaysians.

“This money is returned to the B40 group. This was from the GST revenue as the Malaysian economy grew.

The former Umno president added this cash aid would be essential especially now, as Malaysia was predicted to go through a rough economic patch.

“Several analysts have predicted Malaysia will be in an economic struggle or crisis soon.

“Palm oil and rubber prices have dropped after the 14th general election. This is when the poor should be helped, not punished,” he said.

BR1M was introduced in 2012 and the amounts were increased yearly. This year, however, there was no increase. Households earning below RM3,000 a month will receive RM1,200, while those earning between RM3,000 and RM4,000 will receive RM900.

Single individuals earning RM2,000 and below will continue to receive RM450. In total, RM6.8 billion was allocated in this year’s budget for the 7.2 million recipients.

After Pakatan Harapan took over federal power in GE14, it announced that BR1M would be replaced. Dr Mahathir had then said the mechanism for the new aid, called Bantuan Sara Hidup Malaysia (Cost of Living Aid), will be totally different from BR1M.

There, however, has been no further announcement on the new mechanism.

The third stage of the Cost of Living Aid 2018 payment was paid before the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebration. The payment, involving an allocation of RM1.6 billion, was paid out to almost 4.1 million recipients.

Najib also warned that Malaysia’s disparity would widen to the levels during Dr Mahathir’s first rule as PM if something was not done about the cash aid. – August 25, 2018.