What’s in store for the rakyat
From health to transport, various schemes have been put in place to help Malaysians.
FROM health insurance to public transport passes to petrol subsidies, the government has put in place various schemes to help the rakyat, especially the B40 (lower income) group.
One such scheme is Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) or the cost of living aid, which provides financial assistance to Malaysia’s low-income group.
During the Budget 2019 announcement, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that every household with a monthly income of RM2,000 and below will receive a sum of RM1,000.
Households with a monthly income of between RM2,001 and RM3,000 will receive RM750, while households earning RM3,001 to RM4,000 a month will receive RM500.
For households who have special needs children aged 18 and below, an additional handout of RM120 per child for up to four children will be given.
Originally known as Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) under the previous administration, the rebranded BSH is expected to benefit about four million households this year.
In February, the Finance Ministry announced that it had reinstated a RM100 aid for those who are not married, which benefited three million eligible single Malaysians.
The B40 group also benefited from a couple of health insurance schemes unveiled by the Pakatan government.
Under the MySalam scheme, BSH recipients aged 18 to 55 will receive a one-off payment of RM8,000 if they are diagnosed with one of 36 critical illnesses.
The critical illnesses covered by the scheme include cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer’s.
Recipients will also receive daily payments of RM50 for up to 14 days as income replacement in the event of hospitalisation.
The PeKa B40 scheme, which was launched last month, will also benefit BSH recipients aged 50 and above.
It will include benefits such as health screenings, medical devices aid and transport cost incentives.
Other than healthcare, transport was another area that the government looked at to help ease the financial burden of the people.
A targeted petrol subsidy was announced under Budget 2019, in which owners of cars and motorcycles with 1,500cc and 125cc engines respectively will receive subsidies for RON95 petrol at 30 sen per litre.
The subsidy for car owners will be limited to 100 litres of petrol monthly, while motorcycle owners will get 40 litres monthly.
The petrol subsidy scheme, which is expected to benefit four million car owners and 2.6 million motorcycle owners, will be implemented by the second quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, the Suri Incentive Scheme (i-Suri), a pension scheme for housewives and the brainchild of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, kicked off within 100 days of Pakatan coming into power.
Under it, 2% is supposed to be transferred from a husband’s Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account to cover the housewife.
However, as the EPF Act 1991 needed to be amended to allow for the 2% to be transferred, this is expected to only begin in early 2020.
Therefore, since its launch in August last year, those who contribute a monthly minimum of RM5 a month will receive a contribution of RM40 monthly from the government.
Throughout 2018, the EPF credited a total of RM9.51mil into the accounts of i-Suri members.
The amount refers to the RM40 per monthly incentive credited to a total of 49,857 i-Suri account holders who have made a minimum of RM5 contribution on a monthly basis.
To encourage the use of public transport and ease the high cost of living, Transport Minister Anthony Loke introduced the My100 and My50 passes last December.
The My100 pass allows commuters to access unlimited rides for 30 days on all forms of RapidKL rail and bus transport, including mass rail transit (MRT), light rail transit (LRT), monorail, BRT Sunway, RapidKL buses and MRT feeder buses.
With the My50 pass, commuters can enjoy unlimited rides for 30 days on all RapidKL buses and MRT feeder buses except BRT Sunway.
As of April this year, over 115,000 people have benefited from the My100 unlimited travel pass.
Meanwhile, the My50 unlimited travel pass programme will be extended to Penang under the Penang Rapid bus system, across 71 routes and the Rapid Ferry between Butterworth and Georgetown.
The My100 and My50 unlimited monthly passes for MRT, LRT and Rapid KL were launched on Dec 1 last year with commuters using the MyKad, MyKid and MyTentera documents.