RM200 smartphone rebate: Rais wants to raise eligibility age of youths to 40

KUALA LUMPUR, -- The Ministry of Information Communications and Culture will present a proposal to the Finance Ministry, to raise the age limit of 'youths' who are eligible to enjoy the RM200 rebate for 3G smartphone purchase, to 40 years.

Its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the announcement made by the Prime Minister during the 2013 Budget last Friday which provided those aged between 21 to 30 years to be eligible for the rebate could be fine tuned.

"We may be forced to review several categories of age which we should take into consideration...the actual definition of youth is 40 years and below, so if we capped it at 30, it would be abnormal.

"If need be, we will study the provisions or specific needs for a certain age category to fulfill the aspiration of the younger generation," he told reporters after presenting the 2012 Local Writers Work Fund here today.

When tabling the 2013 Budget in Parliament, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the RM200 rebate for the purchase of 3G smartphone to about 1.5 million youths aged between 21 and 30 years and whose monthly income was less than RM3,000, through a Youth Communications Package starting January 1.

Rais said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) would determine the best method to disperse the rebate to youths so as to prevent fraud and unfairness.

He said the ministry had established a committee to ensure the provisions of rebate were implemented properly.

"Details on whatever proposals agreed will be announced on Oct 16 or 17, after a technical meeting with the relevant parties, including the treasury, MCMC and officers managing the programme," he said.

-- BERNAMA