KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan today skirted an opposition lawmaker’s question on whether the increase in the 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) handouts meant poverty was on the rise, and instead praised the programme for helping “grow local economies”.
Sibu DAP MP Oscar Ling had during Question Time asked if the rising number of BR1M recipients meant there were more poor people now and if the poverty-reduction statistic had been glossed over.
“We help the people in many ways. We give subsidies that are cannot be seen and direct help like BR1M... but the difference is BR1M helps grow local economies.
“The markets are now flourishing because people are spending. When people receive BR1M they don’t save it in the bank,” Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat in his reply.
The RM500 BR1M cash handouts to families with monthly incomes of below RM3,000 were introduced in 2011. During campaigning for Election 2013, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said the amount will be increased to RM1,200 gradually.
Ahmad said today the government was still studying the viability of increasing the amount while taking into consideration its subsidy restructuring plans.
The BR1M programme had helped bolster Najib’s popularity among the lower-income group prior to Election 2013, which led the prime minister promising to make the cash handout scheme a permanent feature of his administration should BN retain power.
Apart from calling the programme a form of bribery, critics of the policy claimed BR1M annually would cost taxpayers as much as RM11 billion a year by 2023.
Detractors also argued that the scheme will not solve the woes facing lower-income households.
Ahmad today maintained that the BN government was “more than capable” of giving out the BR1M but refused to comment on when it plans to increase the amount.
The deputy finance minister also said the government would consider suggestions that the income bracket for the cash gift policy to be increased to those earning RM5,000 a month.
