Still waiting for the promised RM1,000 welfare aid

 

The welfare department currently provides aid of RM200-RM300 a month to eligible recipients. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Recipients of the government’s monthly welfare aid programme were overjoyed to learn in December that their allowance of RM200-RM300 would be increased to RM1,000. But the money has yet to be paid.

Checks with the welfare department, a local union, and an Orang Asli community leader have shown that the policy has yet to be implemented after more than three months.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, in announcing the higher payment in December, had said: “I will make sure that the proposal is implemented immediately” in a Facebook posting on Dec 3 to mark the international day of people with disabilities.

Earlier this week, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the increase was announced before the Sabah state elections (in September) “and until today, we have not heard anything about it despite it being an announcement made by the Prime Minister”.

Welfare department officer Che Samsuzuki Che Noh told FMT that the department has yet to receive the green light from the finance ministry for implementation of the policy. He said not all the current recipients of aid would be eligible for the increased payment.

Muhyiddin had proposed the increased amount in Sandakan in August, before the Sabah elections, saying “what is important is the livelihood of our people in the B40 group” who, he said, had suffered for a long time.

A member of the Mah Meri native community in Pulau Carey, Selangor, said her bank account has yet to reflect any change in the aid amount.

“I heard they would start giving RM1,000.. We’re still only getting RM200,” she told FMT. “We’ve been struggling since the MCO (movement control order) and the help would go a long way,” she added.

The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia said on Saturday that many people had lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, including many single mothers, who might be too embarrassed to ask for help.

The union said the increase in aid can help the poor although the amount “is definitely still not enough”.

Syed Saddiq hoped that the aid increase would not be used as a political tool for the coming general election, especially with two key Budget policies also yet to get off the ground.

“My fear is they are intentionally holding off on the welfare increase, and the RM100 e-wallet handout and the offer of 150,000 free laptops (for students)… And they will only get this done closer to the election,” he said. - FMT