ECONOMIC affairs minister Azmin Ali seems to have forgotten basic mathematics when claiming that the Barisan Nasional government failed to uplift the B40 income group to become M40, said Najib Razak.

“I believe the economic affairs minister is confused over economic concepts and his mathematics,” the former prime minister said in a Facebook post today. 

“At all times, the B40 group will exist. This is basic mathematics.

“B40 means the group that earn the lowest 40%. Therefore, it is meaningless to claim that if all the B40 earners are elevated to M40, then the B40 group would no longest exist.”

He was commenting on Azmin’s statement in the Dewan Negara yesterday that the previous government failed to uplift the lower 40% group in terms of household income to the middle class. 

B40 refers to the bottom 40% of households with monthly income of RM3,900 and below.

Najib said B40 earners who doubled their monthly income from RM4,000 to RM8,000 would still be lumped in the B40 group.

There are families entering the B40 group as well as leaving it, he said.

Najib also refuted a claim by Azmin that the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) was a form of bribery and proof that the BN government failed to help the lower-income group. 

He said BR1M was to redistribute wealth from the top 60% earners to the bottom 40% and to serve as an economic stimulus, particularly in rural areas and smaller towns.

“(BR1M) was crucial to reducing the income gap between the rich and poor, as well as those who live the cities and the rural areas.”

Najib said the goods and services tax revenue were collected from those who avoided taxes and the black economy, which are centred in the big cities, were redistributed to the B40 to increase income and spur the local economies.

The “direct cash transfer” and returning GST funds to the B40 is not new, Najib said, citing Singapore’s “GST voucher” scheme.

Singapore pays S$1 billion (RM3 billion) to 1.6 million citizens earning S$28,000 and below a year, which is an average of S$625 (RM1,900) per person.

“I want to ask Azmin: has the Singapore government failed or did they bribe or manja (spoil) their citizens for having a scheme similar to BR1M?” – September 5, 2018.