Selangor Harapan-BN manifesto targets women, students with goodies

 

Selangor Pakatan Harapan and its new ally BN today laid out a series of financial assistance for the rakyat in their manifesto for the state election.

Among the promises, as presented by Selangor Harapan chief Amirudin Shari, include an annual incentive of RM1,000 for working mothers and RM1,500 assistance to all college students from the state.

According to Amirudin, who is the caretaker Selangor menteri besar, the assistance for working mothers will be offered under a programme called “Insentif Wanita Kita Selangor”, which is aimed at helping ease their financial burden in paying for education and nurseries for their children.

There is also a related initiative, where the Selangor Harapan-BN front wants to train more babysitters and provide childcare centres at all state government and local council offices, while offering incentives to private companies that provide similar facilities to their employees.

“This is so that we can avoid child abuse and accident cases at childcare centres. Incentives will be given to caregivers so that they can do their job well and mothers who have to work will be able to do so knowing their kids are in good hands,” he said during the launch of “Tawaran Kita Selangor - 5 Tekad Untuk 5 Tahun” manifesto in Shah Alam.

The manifesto lists a total of 52 programmes and offers under five categories.

Caretaker Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari

On top of the RM1,500 handout offers, college students would also receive book vouchers worth RM200 under the manifesto.  

Harapan and BN, who are working together under the so-called “Unity Government” front, also promised to increase in stages the monthly allowances for mosque committee leaders (imam, bilal, siak, and nazir), should they win the polls.

“The allowances for imam will be increased to RM1,600, bilal to RM700, while for Siak and Nazir to RM500 each,” he said.

For people of other faiths in Selangor, including Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Taoists, Amirudin offered to increase annual assistance up to RM10 million to the communities respectively.

There is also a plan to give out RM2,000 in subsidies for 3,000 Muslims who are going for their first haj pilgrimage under the Muassasah scheme.

Houses under RM250k

In his speech, Amirudin said the coalition plans to build 200,000 residential units with three bedrooms and two bathrooms and offer them to Selangor citizens for under RM250,000 each.

“We also want to make 10,000 more houses for civil servants in Selangor under a programme called ‘Perumahan Penjawat Awam Kita Selangor’,” he said.

The manifesto also offers an incentive of RM1,000 to farmers in the state to cover their expenses including for seeds, fertiliser, and pesticides.

Amirudin said they plan to widen the state’s financial assistance for food delivery riders to include e-hailing drivers, among others.

“Currently, senior citizens in Selangor get RM150 financial assistance annually and their next-of-kin will receive RM500 in the event of their death.

“Insha-Allah, if we get to govern for another term, we will keep this initiative and should the state is in a good financial situation, we will increase it to RM200 a year while for the ‘khairat kematian’, we plan to increase the amount to RM1,000.”

Meanwhile, apart from direct financial handouts, the manifesto also offers to improve connectivity between areas within Selangor through two plans under their “Jajaran Kita Selangor” programme.

This, Amirudin said, will include a new rail service that connects Klang to Kuala Selangor, Tanjong Karang and Sabak Bernam; and another rail line that connects the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Tanjong Sepat and Sungai Pelek.

The use of minibuses and vans under the Selangor Mobility initiative will also be widened to all districts, with the aim to lessen the people’s dependence on cars.