Be patient, give gov't time to restore economy - Anwar

De facto Pakatan Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim has appealed for patience from the rakyat, stating that the government needs time to restore the aid programmes offered during the previous BN administration.

Anwar explained that the government has had to scrap several aid programmes due to the country's fiscal state.

"Our economic growth is at 4.5 percent, whereas before when I was finance minister, it was nine percent.

"This does not mean that we cannot help those who are deserving (of aid), such as the poor or students," he said during a 'Meet Anwar' dialogue session held at Universiti Putra Malaysia last night.

Anwar stressed the Pakatan Harapan administration's main aim now is to restore the economy and reduce the national debt.

Harapan has repeatedly expressed shock as the dismal state of the economy it inherited, claiming the previous BN administration left the country with debt and liabilities amounting to over RM1 trillion.

Elaborating further, Anwar stated that Harapan could take a leaf from its predecessor's book and implement "populist programmes," but at the expense of widening the national debt.

"The problem is, we have leaks; subsidies for fishermen never reached the fishermen, but were instead diverted to middlemen claiming to be fishermen.

"We do not want the national debt to be too high and we do not want to take on new debt. 

"If we wanted to be popular, we would just give (aid)."

Helping the poor

When asked on the time frame needed by the government to restore the economy, Anwar responded that the rakyat needed to be "patient for a while."

Anwar was fielding questions from UPM students on several BN-era programmes that were abolished in the 2019 Budget.

Among the aid programmes introduced by the BN government, aside from the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), were the fishermen's cost of living allowance, 1Malaysian Book Vouchers, 1Malaysia Student Discount Card (KADS1M), Monsoon Season Aid (BMT) for rubber tappers, and School Aid.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had previously stated that the new government could not continue to give fishermen monthly aid as it lacked the necessary funds.

However, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng stated last month that Budget 2019 would retain targeted subsidies for farmers, agricultural workers, plantation workers and fishermen, but it will be modified to ensure the aid would not be abused by those who do not deserve it.

The current administration also rebranded BR1M into the Cost of Living Aid (Bantuan Sara Hidup, or BSH), while it was reported that the government is studying the continuation of the BMT.

On Sunday, Mahathir urged Lim to make helping the poor a priority.

The premier had said that while the rakyat would feel the relief of improved economy next year, the poor could not wait as they were already struggling to cope with the high costs of living. -Mkini