600,000 BR1M applications rejected
Some 600,000 who earn more than RM4,000 monthly and, consequently, are ineligible for 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), applied for it last year, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.
He said several thousands who earn a monthly income of between RM8,000 and RM12,000 had also applied for the financial aid scheme.
“We rejected 600,000 applicants because their salaries were more than RM4,000 (a month). Some earning RM12,000 a month also applied,” he said at Parliament lobby here yesterday.
He said at least 300,000 who earned more than RM5,000 and 260,000 who earned up to RM5,000 had also applied for BR1M.
Johari said the applications of 40,000 individuals were rejected when it was discovered that they were earning monthly salaries of between RM6,000 and RM8,000.
“This is the reason why we need further clarification and supporting documents from the applicants.
“We do not want to channel the RM700 million (BR1M allocation) to those who do not deserve it.”
Under this year’s BR1M, RM1,200 will be disbursed to 3,242,048 households earning RM3,000 and less a month, while RM900 will be given to 291,918 households earning between RM3,001 and RM4,000 a month.
A total of 2,786,803 individuals earning less than RM2,000 a month will receive RM450.
Johari said his ministry had instructed the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to disburse the cash aid to 705,562 recipients who qualified for BR1M last year. He said IRB would channel the aid to them in stages from next week.
He said new applicants had three months to provide documentation, including pay slips and bank statements. He denied claims on social media that those registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) were not eligible for BR1M.
He said there was no need for them to remove their names from the CCM registry.
“This has nothing to do with CCM as we have our own process for verification. First, the National Registration Department will check if they are Malaysian, then the Employees Provident Fund checks their pay slips. This will be followed by the National Audit Department verifying their earnings.
“If the applicant works in the private sector, we will check with the IRB, while Retirement Fund Inc will look into pensioners’ applications,” he said.
He said that those with household incomes of less than RM4,000 and single incomes of less than RM2,000 were eligible for the cash aid.
“It does not matter if applicants are registered with CCM. In fact, we encourage lowincome earners to run their own businesses and become entrepreneurs.
“As long as you have a household income of less than RM4,000, you are eligible for BR1M.”