TABUNG Harapan may come to an end as early as next month, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said. 

He said the initiative was only symbolic of the patriotism of Malaysians, and was not set up to pay off government debts.  

“We have to stop collecting. It is actually a way of knowing how people love the country, (how) they are willing to sacrifice to help overcome our problems, money problems. 

“It is quite clear that even people who have small sums of money are willing to help save the country,” Dr Mahathir said after a meeting with Asean business leaders today. 

The fund was launched on May 30 as an outlet for patriotic Malaysians wishing to help the country reduce its RM1 trillion debt.

As at 3pm today, the collection for the fund stood at RM179,947,434.22.  

On when the government was planning to close Tabung Harapan, Dr Mahathir replied “We haven’t decided, maybe next month.”

The 93-year-old also said the government was not giving preferential treatment to companies that had donated a lot, which was evident when he rejected a company that was riddled with problems. 

“It could be (that they are trying to use it as leverage) but we are not affected. There was one very big donation from a company that has some problems, (so) we refused to accept it,” Dr Mahathir said.

Critics had claimed that the fund initiated by the government was a publicity stunt and would not be used to pay off debts inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional government. – August 30, 2018.