School bus drivers yet to receive cash aid – MP

SANDAKAN: Member of Parliament for Sandakan, Vivian Wong urged the government to immediately disburse the oneoff payment of RM600 cash assistance to all school bus drivers in the district as promised back in July 2020.

Vivian made the call as her Parliament Service Centre has received a few calls for help from local school bus drivers as they have yet to receive the RM600 payment announced last year under the Bantuan Prihatin National (BPN) stimulus package.

“What is the point of our Prime Minister promising another RM500 payment to school bus drivers under the recently announced Permai Assistance Package when what was promised more than six months ago by the government is still yet to be delivered?”

According to her, last December during the Parliament session, she had specifically brought up this issue to the Minister of Transport.

She said in his reply, Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah informed the Parliament that the ministry, through the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) Sabah, was in the process of disbursing the payments, and payment to 41 school bus drivers had already been made.

However, in a bizarre twist a day later, CVLB Sabah chairman had come out to dispute what the Deputy Minister said in Parliament, and claimed that none of the school bus drivers in Sandakan had received the payment yet.

"So my question is, it has been another long month since I brought this up in the Parliament, what have the Transport Minister and LPKP chairman done to resolve this?

“I have written in to the Transport Minister again to request for his urgent attention on this matter. With schools being forced to close for extended period due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, all school bus drivers are severely affected as their operations have also been halted.