Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
KUCHING: The federal government’s decision to phase out the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) in the near future does not sit well with several leaders of the Sarawak government.
In fact, they described the decision to cease the aid, which was first introduced by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in 2012, on the grounds that there were elements of corruption on it as unreasonable.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said it is clear that one of the criteria to qualify for BR1M is the monthly income of the recipients’ family regardless of their political affiliation.
As such, she pointed out that the federal government need not abolish BR1M as it is indispensable especially for the poor.
“Maybe the federal government can review the criteria of the recipients by giving priority to the hardcore poor and low income groups,” she said when contacted yesterday to comment on Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali’s recent statement that cash handouts such as BR1M should be stopped because there were elements of corruption in it.
However, she said if the federal government insisted on abolishing BR1M, they ought to come up with a new initiative that focuses on productive welfare to help the poor community.
“For instance, the funds can be used as capital grants for the poor to generate income through entrepreneurship,” she suggested.
Meanwhile, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the distribution of BR1M has been transparent, which is meant to help reduce the burden of recipients in meeting their daily needs.
“It’s not given to any Tom, Dick and Harry but only to those who qualify and meet the criteria. I don’t see any element of corruption in this handout because who the recipients support is never used as the yardstick for disbursement.
“It’s just unfortunate that with the high cost of living and increasing cost of necessities, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is also pulling back BR1M,” he remarked.
Sharing the same sentiment as Fatimah, Abdul Karim said rather than abolishing BR1M, the federal government should improve its distribution system by ensuring that it is given to only those who are eligible.
“It’s better to make sure that BR1M recipients are really genuinely eligible recipients instead of cancelling it altogether.”
Azmin on Sunday welcomed the decision to gradually phase out BR1M, saying he considered such cash handout as a politically motivated bribe to gain support.
His statement came following Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement that Putrajaya would phase out payouts of BR1M, which has since been renamed by PH as ‘Bantuan Sara Hidup’, before discontinuing it.