KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) clarified Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s comments about the amount of financial aid given out under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) during his special address yesterday.
The PMO said in a statement that the actual number of e-hailing drivers who received the RM500 cash allowance was 68,336 individuals.
It also corrected the number of taxi drivers, tourist drivers and bus drivers who received RM600 allowance to 37,127 individuals, for a total of RM22.2 million.
“As for the wage subsidy assistance, the initiative worth RM7.4 billion has benefited 313,000 employers and 2.5 million employees nationwide,” it said.
Yesterday, former transport minister Anthony Loke disputed Muhyiddin’s figures as mentioned in the latter’s address.
Loke posted on Facebook to say that facts and numbers the prime minister gave out must be accurate to avoid confusing the public.
Among others, he said that the number of e-hailing drivers in the country could not be 1.4 million as those registered with the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) were only around 120,000 individuals.
“If 1.4 million e-hailing drivers were given the RM500 allowance then the total amount will be RM700 million and not RM34 million.
“Also if it is true that 477,000 taxi drivers, tourist drivers and bus drivers had received the RM600 allowance, then the allocation need is RM286.2 million not RM28.8 as mention in his speech,” he wrote.
