Pakatan: Putrajaya should use e-Tunai Rakyat to distribute financial aid
KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) secretariat has called upon the federal government to utilise the e-Tunai Rakyat programme as the platform to disburse financial aid directly into the accounts of those eligible.
The opposition coalition had pointed out that e-Tunai Rakyat already has a database of eight million members of the public which was used to pay the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (National Care Assistance or BPN) directly into their accounts.
“Since the e-Tunai Rakyat recipients have already undergone a verification process for those whose income can be taxed below below RM100,000 annually, it is simple for the government to ensure that the RM1,000 can be delivered to the individual within the targeted timeframe.
“The government only needs to separate who qualify to receive the Bantuan Sara Hidup (Cost of Living Assistance or BSH).
“Through the e-Tunai Rakyat scheme, the public doesn’t need to go through a troublesome bureaucratic process, to register and receive approval, in order to receive the RM1,000 assistance,” said the joint statement by PKR’s Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, Amanah’s Datuk Mohd Hatta Ramli and DAP’s Tony Pua.
They argued that the Finance Ministry’s decision to utilise the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) as the Care package delivery platform is inefficient as the body mainly have data on individual income instead of household income, seeing that not everyone disclose their tax returns as household income.
It was also pointed out that not everyone who qualifies for the Covid-19 assistance has registered with the IRB.
Individuals earning below RM2,500 are qualified for the assistance but they might not have a tax file register with the IRB since they do not have to pay taxes.
They also proposed that national sovereign fund Khazanah be utilised as the vehicle to disburse the RM1,000 assistance to the M40 group via e-wallets, seeing their success with the e-Tunai Rakyat campaign.
“Using e-wallets is also in line with the e-payment objectives encouraged by Bank Negara Malaysia. This also leads to touch-less transactions ensuring that virus, germs and bacteria will not infect through the exchange of cash at cashier counters.
“This is the safer and healthier option,” said their statement.
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