'BR1M with clear purpose can be beneficial'
International precedence shows that cash handouts such as Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) must come with clear conditions encouraging the community to uplift themselves to be truly beneficial, says PKR think tank Institut Rakyat.
Institut Rakyat assistant director of research Ginie Lim said failing to outline such conditions will risk creating a culture of dependence and political exploitation.
Lim ( left ) said this was the finding by Institut Rakyat after looking at four other similar cash handout programmes namely Bolsa Familia in Brazil, Portunidades in Mexico, Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme in India and Indonesia's direct cash aid.
"Bolsa Familia, Oportunidades and the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme were tranformative as they imposed condition on recipients to change their lives such as requiring to send their children to school, bring their children to clinics according to schedule or guaranteeing work for the first 100 working days.
"The direct cash aid in Indonesia did not impose any conditions for households to improve their lives and is instead intended to 'counter' poverty as a result of rising fuel price instead of trying to reduce poverty," she said in a statement today.
Lim said BR1M, which aims to channel subsidy funds to targeted groups, is similar to Indonesia's model.
"Even though BR1M on average increases the income by RM79.17 a month, but households are still faced with increasing prices of goods, the lack of financial assets and high household debt," she said.
Under BR1M, households with income under RM3,000 will get a one off payment of RM950 this year while households with income between RM3,000 to RM4,000 will receive RM750.
The scheme was introduced as the government phased out subsidy for fuel and other daily items that would have covered everyone regardless of income.
However, the policy has invited mixed reaction with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad being among the scheme's staunch critic.
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now