Speaking at a forum on the 2017 Budget, he noted that a lot of government spending had been cut. “The only thing we haven’t seen, however, is the cut of ministers’ salaries.”

He added that Cabinet ministers should do so as it is symbolic, saying that they should “feel the same pain as the rakyat feels”.

Muhammed Abdul Khalid also suggested a report card system on people receiving 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) payments, in order to avoid over-reliance.

Families could be evaluated on such matters as the school attendance of the children.

“For BR1M, we make it conditional. For the old people, you just leave them. But for those with kids, make it conditional.

“We don’t want people to be on BR1M forever. We should monitor them so that a few years down the road, we can take them off BR1M,” he said.

He added that several countries such as the Philippines have implemented the report card system and have been successful.

Another economist, Yeah Kim Leng of Sunway University Business School, said the government should limit the use of BR1M for employment, education and skills upgrading purposes.

This, he said, would ensure that the allocation for BR1M was spent more efficiently.

Criticisms have been levelled against BR1M that it did not go far in alleviating the financial burden of the people, and that it was a form of bribery by the Government.