Come and get it

BETWEEN now and Jan 10 next year forms must be collected, filled in properly and submitted on time.

What forms?

These are documents for the purpose of claiming the government’s one-off gift of RM500 in cash under the scheme called BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia). The approval for this donation out of the taxpayers’ money has been given by Parliament as part of the Budget 2012 goodies.

There is a sum of RM2.6 billion specially reserved for this purpose. If not enough, don’t worry. So we have been assured by the Second Minister of Finance, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah last week.

Where can one collect those forms then?

From certain designated schools, from the nearest office of Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (LHDNM) or the district offices or any counters authorised to dish out those forms and then to receive them upon completion.

Who has the privilege to request for this aid?

The head of family, male or female, of Malaysian citizens whose combined monthly income does not exceed RM3,000 at the time of registration of claim.

Also eligible is any Malaysian aged 60 years and above, has no living relative and earns less than RM3,000 per month.

Submit completed forms

By mid – January 2012, all application forms will have been processed – checked, double checked – and bona fide recipients of the money verified. Then submit them without delay.

Do not panic.

On Tuesday, I went to collect the application form, BK-01[1/2011], in order to read what it might contain and see if I could be of help to any one in the crowd who wished to apply for the funds.

It has two parts to it, neatly compressed into one page of a 4- paper. Part A – Personal information of applicant; Part B – Information relating to identities of family members and monthly income of each member up to 7 names.

There is a declaration of factual information which the applicant must make. A penalty under the Penal Code may be imposed on him or her for supplying false information in this exercise.

That’s the fine print there.

Why restrict to 7 persons in a family? Some families have up to ten members each.

I had problem in filling the column in which must be stated the income of each member of a family. The man who had
agreed to be assisted did not know how much he earned
per month let alone how much or how each of the other members got. Helpless, he went home to see if his son could help. My offer of help was appreciated, of course.

Do not collect any other forms; they may be fake especially those with columns for your bank account numbers. The real form contains no such requirement.

In Sarawak, the process of collecting the financial assistance may not be as easy as we think. One has to work for it.

Cost of collecting money

Firstly, eligible Malaysians from the remote longhouses and villages may have to look for a couple of volunteers to pick up the forms during office hours from the nearest LHDNM’s counters or any counters authorised by the tax office.

Secondly, having collected as many of those documents as required, it’s time to go back by the earliest and cheapest means of transport. The representatives deserve a bowl of mee for their trouble, then they may have to fill up the fuel tank of the outboard engine out of own money, before they go home.

In the longhouse, the Tuai Rumah calls every family to assemble in the ruai for a briefing on how to go about filling in those forms that the representatives have brought home from the ‘opis’.

It may take the whole evening  to finish filling all the documents.

Some eligible families may not be present that evening, so another exercise will be carried out the following day or night.

All forms having been filled up, some one must go and submit them to the nearest LHDNM office or a district office or any counter designated and authorised by the tax office to receive such forms. After final checking, perhaps, the longhouse couriers may now go home.

Anxiously, every body will wait for some announcement over the radio as to date and time to collect the fortune. Hopefully, no one application will be rejected. But be prepared for possible disappointment.

And who will pick the cash on behalf of every body else, they may want to know. The same representatives or every head of family so entitled to the gift, all trooping down to the collection centre?

There will be a brisk business in town that day. And spending will not be a problem.

Be vigilant, watch out for pickpockets.

In the meantime, has any one worked out the expenditure incurred?  Cost of fuel, food, accommodation; time taken – the long trip, from collecting the forms from the ‘opis’ to submitting them, and then going down or up again to collect the prize itself? That is, if your application has been approved.

Ask those from the Baram and the Rajang and they will tell you how much money will be required in order to collect the BR1M money.

Anyway, be thankful and appreciative. Smile!

The commotion and the chaos seen at the LHDNM counters in Sibu last week could have been avoided if there was a proper arrangement made by the tax office – well publicised date and time of form collection, proper crowd control and coordination with the community leaders. Obviously, they did not expect so many people to turn up – those whose family income which is below RM3000 per month.

Don’t blame LHDNM. The number of families earning below that amount per month is largely a guess work. Even the Second Minister of Finance admitted that much: “Kita belum tahu bilangan isi rumah yang layak” (We don’t  know the exact number of eligible families yet).

Data collection and storage

The act of distributing cash to millions of people is an enormous undertaking on the part of those responsible for giving it away. Every one entitled must get it sooner or later. Otherwise, the few who may have been inadvertently missed will kick a row.

Expect this oversight to happen.

To obtain information on exact income status of each Malaysian in a family who has no pay slip to show as evidence is a tricky affair. A computer literate Tuai Rumah may have compiled a neat profile of his longhouse and stored such data in his pc. but information regarding personal income of each member of a family may not be easy to obtain because it is something confidential for the individual concerned to disclose.

If he has been able to record and update such data in his pc from time to time, he would be a pro active TR indeed. Smarter still if he carries a thumb drive with him everywhere he goes. He takes it to the District Office for purpose of briefing to his DO who wishes to know about the progress of a development project in his area. Information, relating to the size of income of each dweller of the longhouse may be added to the data base.

That information is what the Government wants to extract via the BK-01[1/2011] Forms.

Other sources of information on household income are from the facts and figures collected during the last Census. There should be enough information to go by to ascertain the number of families earning less than RM3,000 per month.

Try not to politicise BR1M

The chaotic scene at the tax office in Sibu last week could have been avoided if the authorities had roped in the community leaders and members of NGOs to assist. However, direct involvement of political activists in this exercise may be misconstrued because this one- off payment should not look like a political bribe.