BN leaders in three states request to hand out BR1M manually

BN leaders in Perlis, Kelantan and some parts of Perak have requested for Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) funds to be distributed manually despite the government still sticking to channeling the money to the recipients' bank accounts, said a source.

These BR1M handout ceremonies, however, have drawn flak from the recipients in Perak and Perlis following reports that they have to wait for hours under the hot sun. In Perlis, a woman was seen being lifted on a stretcher after she became unwell.

Malaysiakini also found that a Kelantan state leader requested the government to allow them to hand out BR1M manually. The state, however, has yet to organise an event to deliver the fund.

Some state leaders and some of the BN MPs had requested the government for BR1M manual handout so they could meet their constituents, said a source who was familiar with the issue.

"(They said) this is the best opportunity to understand the problem of the constituents, how could their justification be rejected," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source was asked if Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak agreed to the request made by the state leaders and BN MPs.

"But unfortunately, the number (of BR1M) recipients were too big (for them to handle) in one or two weekends. Other issues cropped up.

"They just need to be practical," said the source.

Over seven million people are entitled to BR1M this year.

Perlis Menteri Besar Azlan Man said on Feb 23 that the manual handing-out of BR1M 2016 was not decided by the state, that it was asked to do so.

Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir has yet to respond on the issue brought up by the state opposition.

When contacted, Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani declined to confirm what the source had told the news portal.

He, however admitted that the leaders in Kelantan have asked the Inland Revenue Board to revert the distribution of BR1M back to online payment.

"Some of them cannot even organise the programmes yet. They have started coming back to us, asking us to convert (the money) online because the numbers were so big," he told Malaysiakini.

Johari also denied that the government shifted its BR1M mechanism to manual distribution.

"As far as the government is concerned, it encourages all BR1M to be paid via online. Those who do not have an account, payment will be made via vouchers.

"The vouchers will be posted to the recipients or delivered manually by the state development officers in collaboration with MPs and/or state leaders," he said.- Mkini