I am somewhat saddened with Tun Mahathir’s recent comment in the Malaysiakini report on 25th December 2016 regarding the provision of BR1M by the Government to the Rakyat.
Tun Mahathir accused the Government of corruption and partaking in unlawful activity as he alleged that BR1M is a form of bribery in order to induce the Rakyat to vote for Barisan Nasional.
As Tun Mahathir may well be aware, the financial assistance to the Rakyat in the form of Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) was originally proposed and included in the 2012 Budget based on the realisation by the Government of the effect of escalating cost of living of the Rakyat especially the urban poor.
The idea was originally mooted by the former Bank Negara Malaysia’s Governor, YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz during a budget briefing for the 2012 Budget.
The BR1M as it was to be known was a noble idea- to assist the low income citizen in overcoming the effect of rising cost of living. The lower income group benefited immediately through increased in disposable income and higher purchasing power for essential items.
In fact, the BR1M programme also indirectly promotes the growth of consumer goods industries, many of which are SMEs and increased the domestic consumption of the economy.
With the introduction of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) and the rationalisation of subsidies, the continuation of BR1M has never been more crucial in order to off-set the effect of these policies to the lower income group.
The provision of financial assistance by Governments around the World to lower income citizen is not an alien concept and has been practiced in many Countries.
In fact, targeted financial assistance has been recognised by The World Bank and IMF as one of the key provisions of a social safety net for the Rakyat. For most advanced economies, such assistance forms part and parcel of their robust social protection system. Food stamps in the United States and Social Fund in the United Kingdom are some of the successful examples of government cash transfers programme to assist the livelihood of the disadvantage groups. More recently, the Thai Government has also announced cash handouts as means to help low-income earners and provide spending stimulus to the economy. Malaysia is not the first to do this, nor will it be the last.
The Barisan Nasional Government is neither selective nor vindictive when it comes to the welfare of the Rakyat. Recently, in reply to a question posed to me by the MP for Lembah Pantai, during the Minister’s Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat’s sitting, I explained that of the 7,280,340 qualified BR1M recipients, Selangor represented the highest with a total of 1,017,403 recipients – This proved beyond doubt that the Barisan Nasional Government does not discriminate in helping the Rakyat regardless of where they may reside or whom they may have voted for.
I hope that the provision of BR1M will no longer be exploited by disgruntled politicians as it directly affects the welfare and well-being of the Rakyat especially those in the lower income group. To exploit and demean BR1M as being illegal and being a form of bribery is not only insulting to the BR1M recipients themselves but also unwittingly illustrates the blind negativity practiced by the Opposition towards any good efforts by the Barisan Nasional Government.
DATUK JOHARI ABDUL GHANI
MINISTER OF FINANCE II
26/12/2016
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