FISHERMEN will continue to receive the cost of living allowance (COLA), said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub.

Referring to a report quoting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying that the monthly allowance of between RM200 and RM300 to fishermen would be stopped, he said that it referred to the one-off cash incentives provided by the Barisan Nasional government to fishermen previously.

He said the matter was confirmed by Dr Mahathir after a discussion between the ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.

The prime minister had pointed out that the cash incentives were given out by the previous administration using money from a dubious source, said Salahuddin.

“The prime minister has said that there is no other gift and fishermen will only receive COLA, which has been clearly mentioned as a programme under the ministry,” Salahuddin said in a statement today.

COLA was started in June 2008 to ease the burden of living costs of fishermen.

An earlier report stated that fishermen received COLA, according to their respective categories.

Of the over 10,000 fishermen nationwide who received COLA, 5,000 were deep-sea fishermen while 5,400 earned their livelihood fishing in rivers and dams. – Bernama, June 22, 2018