In Johor, Harapan seeks to restore welfare policies abolished by BN
Johor Pakatan Harapan today announced its offerings for the state polls with a pledge to restore various welfare programmes which it introduced in its 22-months in power but were discontinued or abolished after BN came to power.
"After the 14th general election, we introduced policies which were never offered...
Johor Pakatan Harapan today announced its offerings for the state polls with a pledge to restore various welfare programmes which it introduced in its 22 months in power but were discontinued or abolished after BN came to power.
"After the 14th general election, we introduced policies which were never offered by BN in its 60 years in power.
"For example, the free water policy, Kad Sihat Johor, incentive for undergraduates and takaful for senior citizens, some of them have either been abolished or discontinued," said Johor Harapan chief Aminolhuda Hassan.
The Kad Sihat Johor was a medical card that offered subsidies to seek treatment at private clinics for low-income families and individuals.
It provided a subsidy of RM50 per visit up to a maximum of RM500 per annum for families and RM200 for individuals.
After BN took over the state government in 2020, the fate of the medical subsidy policy became uncertain with complaints in early 2021 that the cards were not usable.
Siswa Harapan
The Insentif Siswa Harapan was a that provided a one-off RM500 subsidy for diploma students and RM100 for foundation students who are starting their university education.
The Takaful Warga Emas Johor offered a RM1,000 payment to the next-of-kin of senior citizens who pass on.
Harapan, in its election offering document today, said it will restore the incentive of undergraduates, takaful for senior citizens and the medical card subsidy.
Interestingly, Perikatan Nasional (PN) in its election pledges had also made a similar promise to restore some of these welfare programmes, including free water and the medical card subsidy for low-income families.
PN is led by Bersatu, which was formerly part of the Harapan coalition.
Reintroduce past policies
Aminolhuda who is also Johor Amanah chief criticised the BN government's plan to reintroduce past policies which were contrary to good governance, and which Harapan had abolished.
An example, he said, is the Kuata Menegak Kerajaan (KMK), a scheme where 20 percent of affordable housing is allocated to elected representatives to assign to the needy.
However, Aminolhuda said the policy was widely abused by politicians who offered affordable housing to their cronies and long partisan lines.
"There was an abuse of power where political leaders used it for their personal benefit, cronies when affordable housing should go to the people who cannot afford to buy a home.
"We are also politicians but we don't want to take advantage of it, we gave it to the people who truly needed it," Aminolhuda said.
Quota policy
Incumbent Johor Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad, during an event on Feb 13, had indicated that he planned to bring back the quota policy.
"The KMK which was implemented by the BN government but abolished by the Harapan administration will be revived to give more housing opportunities to the people in the state," Hasni was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia.
Despite the brickbats Harapan faced following its collapse due to an internal coup, Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong noted that many policies advocated by the coalition are now being taken up by their rivals.
He said among these include anti-party hopping legislation, oversight committees in the state assembly and allocation for opposition representatives.
"These were ideas which Harapan has pushed for since 2008 and they are now gaining acceptance by the other side," he said.
Both BN and Harapan have promised allocation for opposition assemblypersons.
Re-delineation exercise
Both coalitions have also pledged to push for a re-delineation exercise to cope with the drastic growth of new voters due to the introduction of automatic voter registration.
Meanwhile, Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said Harapan's plan for anti-party hopping legislation in Johor is consistent with the developments at the federal level.
"A similar legislation will be tabled in the current Parliament sitting," he said.
Also present at the launch of the election pledge was Muda secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz.
BN had unveiled its election pledges on March 1 while PN followed suit a day later.
The full Harapan offering for the Johor polls can be viewed below:
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