The 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) people's aid was a suggestion by Bank Negara and was not a political gimmick, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said, as he defended the programme which has come under criticism recently, especially from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The prime minister said that the suggestion for BR1M, which was supposed to be an "one-off" aid, came about in order to help those in the bottom 40% income bracket.
"We will continue helping the people to overcome living costs. We introduced BR1M. Tun Dr Mahathir said BR1M makes the people lazy. He did not agree with it," Najib told some 15,000 people at the launch of a low cost housing project in Johor Baru today.
"But BR1M does not make us lazy. It's a safety net, it transfers the nation's wealth in a short period of time," he said.
He then asked the crowd if they thought BR1M made them lazy, to which they answered with a resounding "No!".
"Want it to be continued?" he asked. "Yes!" the crowd answered.
The BR1M cash aid programme introduced by Najib in 2012, a year before the last general election, has been severely criticised by former prime minister Dr Mahathir as a form of "bribery" in order to win votes.
Dr Mahathir cited BR1M as one of the reasons why Najib should step down, along with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal and the murder of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu.
But, Najib had defended BR1M and even said that Indonesia introduced a similar programme in 2013, with the neighbouring country providing cash vouchers to 3.2 million people.
Although Najib had said that BR1M would be temporary, he did not mention when the government would cease giving out the cash aid, which costs the government RM3.64 billion, going by the amount disbursed last year.
Meanwhile, Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah (pic) last year said that BR1M will be restructured so that from 2016, it will only be given to low-income families to buy essential goods.
![](http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/assets/uploads/articles/Mohd_Irwan_Serigar_Abdullah.jpg)
He said this would maximise the scheme's efficacy and prevent it from being misused and that the food stamp system used in the United States, whereby cash vouchers are issued to deserving individuals, may be adopted.
Currently, BR1M, which is to help households earning below RM4,000 a month, is given out in the form of cash and mostly deposited directly into recipients' bank accounts. This year, it is given out in three installments, in January, May and September respectively.
The government has said BR1M was a more efficient method of helping low-income households compared with blanket fuel subsidies.
Critics, however, have pointed out that it breeds another form of dependence subsidy among low-income earners on the government. – TMI
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