Former premier Dato’ Seri Najib Abdul Razak has accused his successor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of only championing the rich, after the latter’s decision to reduce and eventually abolish the 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).
“What is wrong with us taking money from the rich and from those who evade taxes, and give them to the poor,” he asked, adding, “It seems the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government only prioritise the rich, dark economy and businesses that evade tax, rather than increasing the income and helping the poor.”
PETALING JAYA: Former premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak has accused his successor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of only championing the rich, after the latter’s decision to reduce and eventually abolish the 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).
Najib said the money returned to the B40 group was meant for them to spend, especially those in the rural areas, and that through this effort, the income and wealth gap between the rich and the poor could be decreased.
He said it was at this critical moment, when the country’s economy was not performing well, that the poor needed help the most and not to be punished even further.
“What is wrong with us taking money from the rich and from those who evade taxes, and give them to the poor?
“It seems the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government only prioritise the rich, dark economy and businesses that evade tax, rather than increasing the income and helping the poor.
“I’m worried the income gap between the two groups, which has been improving when I was prime minister, will increase to a level similar to Mahathir’s first term as the premier,” he said in statement today.
Najib was responding to Mahathir’s remarks in an interview with The Malaysian Insight that the government intends to slowly reduce BR1M payouts before ending it altogether.
Najib said he regretted Mahathir’s statement and took a swipe at the Prime Minister for continuing to label the BR1M aid as stolen money to “buy” the rakyat.
He added that the monetary aid was never meant for political purposes, and that the criteria for BR1M was only based on a household’s monthly income, regardless of which political party they support.
“The money used to pay BR1M is not stolen money. It is from the rationalisation of subsidies and collection from the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“The money we collected was returned to the B40 group as BR1M, which is also continuously increasing due to increased GST collection, thanks to our improved economy previously,” he added.
Source: The Sun Daily
