The Finance Ministry received the fund application from the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) for school buses ferrying Orang Asli children in Cameron Highlands seven days ago and it was approved within five days, said Lim Guan Eng.
He was commenting on Jakoa director-general Juli Edo saying the department is still waiting for the ministry's approval to pay overdue payments from April to June.
“That is not true,” the finance minister told reporters in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.
“They only presented the application on Aug 22. We approved it on Aug 27 in five days. I think the ministry is very efficient. So I don't know where that came from?
“Come on. You present on Aug 22, then we approve on Aug 27, this is in five days. You better ask the department why this type of statement came out, especially since it is baseless,” he added.
Yesterday, Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Mohd Nor accused the government of failing to pay bus operators ferrying the Orang Asli children to school for up to five months.
As a result, he said the bus operators - many of whom are Orang Asli themselves - are mulling ceasing operations as they could no longer support the cost.
On a separate matter, the minister was also asked if the cabinet meeting today discussed the United Nations' findings on poverty in Malaysia.
Lim said Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali is currently overseas.
“Azmin was not present (at the cabinet meeting) today. Probably, he will present the report next week,” he added.
The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston had said Malaysia's poverty line of RM980 per household, which translated to a poverty rate of 0.4 percent, was unrealistically low.
"The use of a very low and highly unrealistic poverty line obscures the more troubling reality that millions of families scrape by on very low incomes and there is significant hardship in urban as well as rural areas," he added.
According to Alston, the poverty rate in Malaysia was closer to 15 percent.
However, Azmin defended the government's statistics.
"While the government appreciates the effort by the special rapporteur in raising awareness on issues of poverty, certain comments are baseless and uncalled for," he had said. - Mkini
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