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Showing posts with label cash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cash. Show all posts

Friday, July 25, 2025

Malaysia PM announces cash handout for all adult citizen, Govt offering much-needed relief measures to ease living cost of rakyat

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday announced new measures to address growing public disquiet about the rising cost of living, including a cash handout for all adult citizens and a promise to lower fuel prices.

The announcement came ahead of a planned protest to be held in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, calling for Anwar to step down over escalating prices and a failure to deliver on promised reforms, among other concerns.

Anwar’s administration has carried out a number of measures to boost revenue and productivity this year, including a minimum wage hike, increased electricity tariffs on heavy power users, and new sales taxes on some imported fruits and luxury goods.

Anwar has said the moves were mainly targeted at large businesses and the wealthy, but critics have voiced fears that higher costs would eventually be passed down to consumers, including lower and middle income earners.

On Wednesday, Anwar said all adult Malaysians above 18 years old will receive a 100 ringgit ($23.67) one-off cash aid to be disbursed from Aug. 31.

The government will spend a total 15 billion ringgit ($3.55 billion) in cash aid in 2025, up from 13 billion ringgit originally allocated for the year, he said.

Police have said they expect between 10,000 and 15,000 people to attend the Saturday protest, which has been organized by opposition parties.

“I acknowledge the complaints and accept that the cost of living remains a challenge that must be addressed, even though we have announced various measures thus far,” Anwar said.

He added that further initiatives to aid those in poverty will be launched on Thursday.

Anwar said the government will also announce details on a long-awaited plan to remove blanket subsidies on the widely used RON95 transport fuel before the end of September.

Once the subsidy changes are implemented, Malaysians will see fuel prices at the pump drop to 1.99 ringgit per liter, compared to the current price of 2.05 ringgit, Anwar said.

Foreign nationals however will have to pay unsubsidized market prices for the fuel, he added.

Anwar also announced additional allocations for a government program aimed at increasing access to affordable goods and necessities, and vowed to improve other existing aid measures.

Malaysia has seen inflation fall this year, but worries persist over increasing prices of basic necessities like food.

Data released this week showed consumer prices rising 1.1% from a year earlier last month, but the costs of food and beverages were up at a faster pace of 2.1%.

Govt offering much-needed relief measures to ease living cost of rakyat

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians can look forward to a series of measures aimed at easing cost of living, including a one-off RM100 cash aid for those 18 years and above, and cheaper RON95 soon.

The cash assistance will be credited directly into their MyKad under the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara) initiative.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced these measures in a special announcement aired live on his social media platforms yesterday.

Offered in conjunction with National Day on Aug 31, he said the incentives were aimed at easing the rising cost of living and a token of appreciation for the people.

“With this announcement, the combined allocation for Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) and Sara rises from RM13bil to RM15bil this year, marking the first time in history that cash aid is extended to all adult Malaysians,” he said.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said this initiative would benefit 22 million Malaysians with an allocation of RM2bil.

This assistance, said Anwar, can be used from Aug 31 to Dec 31 this year, to buy essentials at over 4,100 outlets nationwide, including major supermarkets such as Mydin, Lotus’s, Econsave, 99Speedmart and participating grocers.

“It will be distributed on individual basis, not by household. So, for example, a household with a husband, wife and two adult children will receive a total of RM400,” he said.

Less is more: The price of RON95 petrol will soon be reduced to RM1.99 per litre under a targeted subsidy scheme with further details to be announced by the end of September. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The StarLess is more: The price of RON95 petrol will soon be reduced to RM1.99 per litre under a targeted subsidy scheme with further details to be announced by the end of September. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star

Anwar said the cost of living remained a pressing challenge that must be addressed wisely and urgently.

He added that while overall inflation in June 2025 dropped to 1.1%, the lowest in 52 months, food and beverage prices continued to rise above the national average.

“There may be some among us who are financially secure and do not need this aid. The government intends to reallocate any unspent funds by year-end towards assistance programmes for vulnerable groups next year,” he added.

In a separate statement, the Finance Ministry said collectively, households have the potential to receive a higher amount of Sara credit.

“For example, a family comprising a husband, wife, and two children aged 18 and above would receive a total of RM400, instead of just RM100,” it said.

The Sara credit can be used to buy over 90,000 essential items across 14 categories, including rice, egg, household cleaning products, medicine and school supplies.

“The RM100 credit is valid until its expiry date of Dec 31, 2025.

“Any unspent balance will be redistributed to vulnerable groups through a programme to be determined later,” said the ministry.

Sara complemented the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) initiative, which provided monthly credits specifically for purchasing basic necessities, it added.

The initiative was introduced by the government in its first Madani Budget in 2023 and currently benefits 5.4 million active recipients.

“Both initiatives are a token of appreciation from the government to all Malaysians who continue to support the nation’s fiscal reform agenda.

“They also reflect the Madani government’s commitment to redistributing the nation’s growing wealth, a result of bold fiscal reforms and more efficient economic management, guided by the Madani Economic Framework.

Anwar also highlighted that the Jualan Rahmah Madani initiative will be enhanced to assist the public in managing living costs.

The government, he added, will double the initiative’s allocation from RM300mil to RM600mil.

This funding will increase the frequency and expand the Jualan Rahmah Madani to include all 600 state constituencies nationwide, said Anwar, who is also Finance Minister.

“The additional allocation will, among others, increase the frequency and expand the number of locations nationwide, covering all 600 state constituencies,” he said.

Anwar also said the price of RON95 petrol will soon be reduced to RM1.99 per litre under a targeted subsidy scheme with further details to be announced by the end of September.

The government, he said, was committed to optimising national subsidy spending by ensuring that ordinary Malaysians continued to benefit from subsidies, while curbing leakage to those not eligible.

“Once the targeted RON95 subsidy is implemented, the government will reduce the price of RON95 petrol to RM1.99 per litre exclusively for Malaysian citizens, while foreign nationals will have to pay the unsubsidised market price.”

The initiative, he said, would benefit about 18 million motorists, including youths as young as 16 and gig economy workers.

“In 2023 and 2024 alone, subsidies for RON95 were estimated to cost nearly RM20bil annually.

“Even this year, despite a drop in global oil prices, the unsubsidised price of RON95 remains around RM2.50 per litre, significantly higher than the subsidised rate Malaysians currently enjoy,” he said.

He explained that the move aims to ensure that ordinary citizens continued receiving fuel subsidy while leakage to ineligible groups, including foreigners, are addressed.

To address the critical need for doctors in hospitals and government healthcare facilities, Anwar also announced that over 4,000 positions for government doctors, including contract medical officers, would be available this year.

He confirmed that 4,352 new doctors, including those on contract, would be hired this year.

According to projections released in 2023 by Dr Hirman Ismail, deputy director of the Health Ministry’s medical development division, the public healthcare sector would require 63,040 doctors by 2025 and 79,931 by 2030.

As of last year, there were nearly 52,000 doctors employed in government service.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

‘Money/cash is King’ comes back to bite Pakatan


Politicians using cash to buy power and votes has created a culture in Malaysia in which people have started valuing money more than truth, hard work and honesty. 

THE enduring potency of the ringgit caused by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “Cash is King” regime came in for much ridicule in the last election campaign, much to the chagrin of the perpetrator of this philosophy.

In all his speeches and media interviews in the last two years before 2018’s 14th General Election, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad never failed to hammer home the point that Najib told him this when he asked why he was giving out cash hand-outs in so many forms to the people, and very freely too.

His intended message to the voters was that Najib used this tactic to “buy” votes, as Malaysians will eventually be beholden and grateful to the man who dishes out cash. Whether those receiving it deserved it or not did not matter, everyone wanted the money and many did not care where it came from.

For a long time, money and power worked like a firewall around Najib and his Cabinet, which made him believe cash was indeed king as they blithely went about plundering the nation.

It has been established or is being established at Najib’s on-going corruption trial involving the alleged siphoning of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, that money was freely dished out for political support, popularity and reverence, among others.

Mahathir’s campaign was direct and simple, that it was borrowed money and stolen funds from the people that was being given out, and this campaign strategy worked. It thus showed that anti-corruption is an easy sell and proved that most Malaysian voters did care about abstract ethical issues like corruption.

Unbelievably, even many of the beneficiaries of Najib’s largesse had obviously voted against Barisan Nasional while some others became turncoats shamelessly, leaving the flagging party.

But one year after dismantling the Cash is King mantra, it somehow appears to be coming back to bite Dr Mahathir and the Pakatan Harapan leadership. The new mantra among many Malaysians now is that they don’t seem to have enough money all the time.

True, the cost of living never came down substantially after the abolition of the GST (goods and services tax), but we cannot deny that it did lower shopping bills in places like hypermarkets as there was no SST (sales and services tax) levied at such outlets.

RON 95 petrol, which is currently used by most motorists, is capped at RM2.08 a litre which is about 40 sen lower than the actual price it would have been if the old managed float system based on global crude oil prices was in place

Not very tangible for the average Malaysian, right? Do they even care to understand the intangibles that they are benefiting from as a result of several new policies and taxes? No! Looks like Malaysians are not prepared to ask what they can do for the country, it is always what the country must do for them.

Nearly every person I meet seems to have just one thing to say: nothing has come down. All prices have remained the same while some have only gone up. And that Pakatan has not delivered or is slow in keeping its promises.

And strangely, I have been noticing a pattern where those providing certain home services like courier and telecommunication technicians actually volunteer to say that times were better under the Barisan government as they had more money to spend.

“It is very difficult now, we have less money to spend compared to last time when BN was in power. Pakatan Harapan is not keeping its promises,” a Pos Laju staff told a friend of mine without being asked.

I’m one who views surveys by certain groups and parties, especially the random ones, warily as the respondents do not necessarily reflect the actual feelings on the ground. So I make it a point to talk to strangers about this subject whether in public stations or while in a queue waiting to pay something.

What I notice is that while people may be a tad bit sympathetic when I tell them they have to give Pakatan more time because of certain extenuating circumstances, generally, they are unhappy.

The bottom line of their unhappiness now is all about cash. They are receiving less money from the government, never mind what they were enjoying in the past was stolen or borrowed money.

This group of people don’t seem to be outraged, which we all should naturally be, at past leaders who had virtually abused their power to rob the nation’s coffers, a fact which has emerged or is being exposed in many key institutions.

They claim that the BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia) payments are now lower and many recipients have also been removed from the list as they do not qualify under the minimum household income requirement. So what is wrong with that? Why do you want money that does not belong to you or you don’t deserve?

Yes, it’s true that the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH, as BR1M is now called) has been reduced by RM200 to RM1,000 but Pakatan has made sure that only really needy Malaysians get such welfare aid, as it had been greatly abused in the past.

And to make sure those really in need receive more help, the government is giving out an additional RM100 for each child below 18 years of age whose guardians are BSH recipients, for a maximum of four children. And if the child is disabled, it is for a lifetime, no age limit. So if a BSH recipient has four children below 18, he or she gets a total of RM1,420. This is higher than before.

Malaysia has thrived because of a culture of opportunity that encourages hard work in the private sector. Of course, the social restructuring policy, which was aimed at giving a hand to the have-nots to give them a lift, played a role.

But this should not go on forever, the number must reduce eventually as those benefiting should finally be able to help their families to grow away from this dependency.

The growth of this form of welfare state funded by projected or borrowed income -- or worse still, by funds siphoned from government coffers -- is turning Malaysia into a land where many expect, and see no stigma attached, to receive regular financial support.

I find this a growing and dangerous trend, when undeserving Malaysians sit back idly and wait for these cash hand-outs as an entitlement instead of a privilege. And what’s more distressing is to see politicians feeding this cancer as a way of continuing to stay in power.

The actual meaning of the phrase “Cash is King”, as most of us know, is a term reflecting the belief that cash money is more valuable than any other form of investment tool for businesses. For individuals, it is meant to be a fund which is easily accessible for urgent expenditures or purchases.

It is not a phrase that politicians or others use to indicate that they can buy power and votes so that they are able to be in absolute control of the nation for as long as they want. Unfortunately, though, many have done this and it has created a culture in Malaysia in which the people have started valuing money more than truth, hard work and honesty.

Cash is not king when it is stolen from others or, worse still, from public funds placed under your trust or control. That is called cashing in. It is surely not king if it is obtained by unfair trade practices or it is beyond a fair deal.

In this context, something that Dr Mahathir said about two years before the last election shortly after he decided to re-enter politics stands out in my mind. He had said: “You see the collapse of moral values in Malaysia is terrible. In the future we are going to be like those countries where bribery is a part of daily life -- you can’t do anything without bribery.”

This is what he is trying to dismantle after he came back into politics at the age of 93, so we should give our wholehearted support to him and Pakatan for a better and cleaner Malaysia for all.

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