THE 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) is not intended to buy votes as claimed by the opposition, said Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Speaking to a crowd of about 2,000 BR1M recipients, he said the aid was proposed by Bank Negara Malaysia to enable targeted subsidy to be carried out.

“This (targeted) subsidy is better than one-off subsidy which has many leakages. For example, the possibility of the subsidy recipients selling it at the border.

“Secondly, the person who should receive the subsidy is getting relatively less compared with others, for example, RON95 petrol, people with big cars get more benefits from those who drive a Proton Saga or Myvi,” he said at the launch of the national-level BR1M at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Convention Hall in Pekan today.

Also present were Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob and Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

Najib, who is also finance minister, said for the government, it was time for it to make a policy change that gave huge benefits to the people through the distribution of BR1M.

He said BR1M was implemented in 2012, disbursing RM500 each to over 4 million recipients, before the amount was increased to RM1,000 in 2016 and RM1,200 in 2017.

“Our promise (made) five years ago in the Barisan Nasional manifesto, we will increase BR1M to RM1,200 and within that period, the promise was fulfilled. We will not make a promise if we think we cannot keep it.

“I’ll not issue a statement that a certain manifesto has to be reviewed… some people make a statement, not to fulfill (the promises), (but) to review 60% of the manifesto. What’s the use of a manifesto where the promises cannot be fulfilled?” he said.

He said until today, the BN government had fulfilled 97.6% of the promises made in its manifesto of the last general election. 

Najib said BR1M, which social media users routinely asked him about on Facebook and Twitter, also helped to stimulate the country’s economy.

“Whenever we get BR1M, we use it to buy essential items like rice, sugar, milk and school uniforms… this stimulates domestic economy,” he said.

The prime minister also hit out at quarters who, he said, were only good at criticising BR1M, but did not give any suggestions on a better way to distribute the subsidy.

He said he was willing to consider any suggestions for implementation for the good of the people and the country.

“To say it (BR1M) is ‘dedak’ (animal feed) or cash is king, it is nonsense because during his time it was not done. We are a government that is concerned about the people’s welfare,” he said.

Distribution of the 2018 BR1M, involving an allocation of RM6.3 billion for about seven million recipients nationwide, will be carried out in three phases.

The first payment will be disbursed beginning tomorrow, while the second and third in June and August respectively. – Bernama, February 25, 2018.