The manual mode of payment for the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) in Perlis is actually easier and faster and gives the people the opportunity to meet the leaders to voice their concerns, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim.

He said the payment of BR1M manually should be made a programme where leaders along with the representatives of the people and state heads of departments go down to the ground.

"Today, many people took the opportunity to meet me and forward their problems. Where I can help I help, or forward it to the relevant departments," he said.

He was met at the BR1M payment event for recipients from the Bintong state constituency at Dewan Warisan in Kangar today. He also expressed regret at the attitude of some people who questioned the payment being made manually.

Some 9,770 recipients are due to their BR1M cash vouchers in three sessions, morning and afternoon today, while the third session will be tomorrow at the same place. Payment of the first session was completed within about two hours.

On him being the cause of BR1M being paid manually in Perlis going viral on social media, Shahidan said it was the government's decision but it was justified as the recipients were having trouble and wasting time waiting for up to three hours when collecting the payment at banks.

- Bernama