Clarity vital to ensure acceptance of ‘tough’ policies, says Amir Hamzah

 The finance minister II says decisions by the government will have a lasting impact on people's lives.

Finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan speaking at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum today.

KUALA LUMPUR:

The government needs to give proper explanations for its policies to ensure their acceptance, says finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan.

Citing the rationalisation of subsidies as an example, Amir said the government seemed to have “figured out” how to balance its books, push for better fiscal reforms and get the public to understand the decision behind it.

“We’ve now implemented subsidy rationalisation for more than two years, and so far no riots have occurred.

“Clarity is very important,” he said at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum, here.

Also present was Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir and board member Nungsari Ahmad Radhi.

Amir was asked how the government handled making tough decisions for the public good.

It was reported yesterday that the government’s subsidy expenditure fell 40.1% to RM23.43 billion in 2025 from RM39.10 billion in 2024 after it rolled out targeted diesel and petrol subsidy reforms.

Amir said the government accepted that it would not be easy to make certain decisions, including “trade-offs”.

“Trade-offs work when the recipients or beneficiaries understand why we make those trade-offs.”

Amir also said that at the end of the day, decisions made by the government had a long-lasting impact.

Therefore, he said, any decision could not be made on impulse.

For example, Amir said, people might brush off a policy that would affect only 10% of the population.

“But let’s be real, 10% of the Malaysian population is 3.4 million people. So some of these lives will be dramatically changed.” - FMT