Downplaying RM100 aid akin to belittling the poor, says Ramanan

Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister R Ramanan said downplaying the RM100 Rahmah Necessities Aid (Sara) announced by the prime minister is akin to belittling the poor in this country.

He stressed that the sum would have a great impact on the daily lives of the less fortunate, adding that it should not be politicised.

"If he is a rich man, T20, he would indeed look down on RM100, but does he know how many people in this country are in the B40 group? How much is RM100 to them and to rich people? He doesn’t understand whether RM100 is a big deal or not.

"Do they know how many kilogrammes of rice RM100 can buy, how many chickens it can buy? So, if the (government) initiative is good, we have to say it is good.

“If it is not good, we have to say it is not good, not to belittle it,” Bernama reported Ramanan as saying.

He said this after attending the A New Normal for Indian Women (Penn) Special Fund Financing Briefing and Presentation Ceremony yesterday.

Explaining, Ramanan said all parties should show empathy and understand the challenges faced by low-income groups, especially in the current challenging economic conditions.

Two days ago, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced several major initiatives as a sign of appreciation from the government to the people, including the one-off RM100 grant under the Sara programme, the delay in toll hikes for 10 highways, and the lower RON95 petrol price subsidy at RM1.99 per litre.

More programmes for Indians

Ramanan also said the government no longer relies on a single agency such as the Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) in addressing the issues of the Indian community, but has instead introduced various high-impact programmes - including financing and entrepreneurship development.

According to him, the government is now implementing a more comprehensive approach involving various agencies such as the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun), Bank Rakyat, SME Bank and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, specifically to empower Indians.

“(It is) increasing the Penn fund from RM50 million to RM100 million, in addition to an additional RM50 million fund for the Brief-i programme, the Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Scheme (Spumi) and introducing Vanigham Financing for Indian Entrepreneurs with financing of RM50 million,” he said.

In total, he said a total of RM417 million had been channelled by the government specifically to implement various initiatives to empower the Indian entrepreneurial community, as of this month.

Earlier, 22 people received financing involving the Penn, Spumi, Spumi Goes Big and Brief-i programmes totalling RM932,000.

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