BR1M FOR MALAYSIANS OR BUMIPUTRAS?

By : STEPHEN YAMAN

THE ISSUE of BR1M is a diabolical issue for the BN government. Bantu Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) or Bodohkan Rakyat 1 Malaysia - BR1M is 'menyusahkan rakyat, bukan membantu'.

On the afternoon of 30 January, 2012, I was queuing with a crowd of about 100 people at the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri hall at Karamunsing KK and all the people were complaining why the government has to do this, make people suffer for pittance?

There were many more people outside the door waiting to get in. Some even had to go back home and come back the next day. There were just too many people with a small hope. It is a real shame to see our people including senior citizens having to queue as if to beg for the promise of RM500.

Many more people have to take leave from work for such a meager sum of money. The BN government is making the ordinary people look like fools and beggars. These are mainly 'bumiputras' with a family income of less than RM3,000 per month classified by the Malaysian government as poor. Most of the city people do not qualify.

For many old folks, for the first time, they have to travel many miles to claim what belongs to them which is, in fact, a very small sum of money compared to what they have earned in their lifetime. They commented that that they could have easily asked they children to give them if they needed RM500 because their children are now educated and have jobs of some sorts such as doctors or engineers.

The officers, who directed the crowd lining up, even said loudly that we all have to indicate where we vote (N some number?). What? Everyone asked if BR1M is a political thing. Then we should not be queuing at the Lembaga Hasil. Everyone asked why not let the BN Wakil Rakyat do the distribution of BR1M.

My turn came and when I was seated at one of the Lembaga Hasil counters, I heard an officer on my right telling an applicant to collect her voucher at a certain place in Papar. The officer at the left counter told the man to collect his at Tawau.

Does it mean that one has to travel all the way from Kota Kinabalu to Papar or Tawau just to collect RM500? It seems like one has to collect the BR1M voucher from the address of the Mykad not where one lives.

What if my address in the Mykad is in Kuala Lumpur? Does it mean that I have to collect my voucher in KL? So, it is redundant to fill up the present address part of the form.

Upon checking my application I was told that my application was rejected due to incomplete information pertaining to my dependents. I was given an appeal form whereby I have to provide photocopies of my wife’s passport, my children’s birth certificates, and my Mykad (again). As I did not have the documents in hand, I was told to come back the next day.

At 10.00am on 31 January, 2012, I came back with the appeal form and the requested documents and I had to queue up again with hundreds of people. When my turn came after a long wait, I submitted my appeal form as required. I was told to call the Lembaga Hasil after 10 February to check if my application is successful.

So, I had to go back home empty handed after all the hassles without knowing if my application is successful. The person next to me was told that even though his application is successful, he has to collect his BR1M voucher from Tenom because his Mykad address and voting station is in Tenom.

So, this confirmed that the BR1M is only for voters for the Pilihanraya Raya Umum 13 (PRU13) and not for 'bantuan rakyat' or to help the citizen. Everyone has been told to collect the BR1M voucher from their polling station area.

Many more were rejected because they no longer have dependent or children that depend on them as if their wife is not a dependent! To rub salt into the wound, they were told to line up among hundreds of people, fill up forms, travel many miles and waste a lot of time only to be told that they do not qualify to receive BR1M for some reasons only known to Datuk Seri Najib!

These are very ordinary people with very simple mind and for many, they don’t even know how to write or fill forms let alone understand what is going on. The government of BN has promised on TV and Radio that they will, for the first time in their lifetime or 55 years of BN government, provide 'Bantuan' by way of BR1M.

For some folks, they have only heard it from their friends. This so called help seems to be another empty promise or another political ploy only for the BN people. But this promise is a promise made by the Number 1 person in the nation. It is no other than the PM, Datuk Seri Najib. Nobody asks or begs him for any promise; he gave a promise on his own accord. If this just an election plan or ploy, it might backfire.

If it was a thing like a lot of money such as the Petronas oil and gas project or revenue, the NFC project, timber money, bridges or roads construction project, the oil palm revenue and so on, nobody cares because, for the ordinary citizen, they can never qualify, quantify or visualize it.

But RM500 is something that they could easily understand because they would have earned it in their lifetime. And to hurt the feelings of ordinary people especially 'bumiputras' with such a small sum of money is to hurt their intelligence and pride!

For many people in the crowd of anxious applicants, they were discussing how unfair the BN government is in doing this to them. Many people softly whispered that they will know what to do in the PRU13 when deciding their next political representative. It is for the 'rakyat' to answer when the time comes because everyone just said they are ready to vote.

All we got to do is to go around and sympathize with the people. It is for the people to exercise their right to select or change what had been wrong for a long time. This has been happening all over the world. It is now time to happen in Malaysia.

For the land below the wind, Sabah, it will be the 'wind' of change! Change, we MUST.

- Sabahkini