Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia had helped in the government’s efforts to re-balance the economy and stimulate the rural economy.
“This is an insult to the millions of Malaysians who have benefited from this policy every year.”
He said it was disappointing that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman Mahathir continued to insist that BR1M is a form of corruption.
He said this time, Mahathir had gone a bit too far in claiming BR1M is against the law and to attack the national minimum wage policy.
“The minimum wage policy is to ensure fair wages for this country’s lowest-paid workers.
“It can also be effective in helping to reduce reliance on a non-Malaysian workforce while at the same time give dignity of life to the bottom-rung workers,” Rahman responded in a statement today.
He said BR1M is a policy to help in redistributing taxes received from the higher-income groups to the bottom 40%-income households.
“It is a policy designed to transfer the wealth of the nation to the B40 segment.”
This policy, he said, is part of the nation’s National Transformation Programme to achieve key objectives critical to the country’s well-being.
The Umno minister said despite slower global growth and a slump in global commodity prices, Malaysia’s gross domestic product growth improved to 4.3% in the third quarter, which indicated the efforts were working.
He pointed out the policies had helped in improving income equality.
The Minister in Prime Minister’s Department said according to the Economic Planning Unit’s data, the median monthly gross household income for all Malaysians had grown to RM4,585 in 2014 from RM2,830 in 2009 — an increase of RM1,755 or a 62% growth within five years.
“This is a much bigger growth compared with the five-year period between 1984 and 1989 when Tun Mahathir was prime minister, when the median income only grew by RM95, or 13.5%.”
He said as for Bumiputera households, the median income grew faster than the national average and registered a 66% growth between 2009 and 2014, from RM2,531 to RM4,214 per month.
“It beats the RM1,112 increase in Bumiputera household median income for the whole 18-year period between 1984 and 2002 when Tun Mahathir was in charge.”
Rahman said the success of the current government’s policies since 2009 was reflected in Malaysia’s Gini Index, which measures income equality and poverty. The lower the coefficient, the lower the income inequality.
He said between 2009 and 2014, the Gini ratio for all Malaysia had dropped from 0.441 to 0.401 — a drop of 0.40.
“This is a bigger improvement compared with the 0.21 drop between 1984 and 2004, when it was at 0.462.”
Equally impressive improvements were shown in the Bumiputera segment as well as in reducing the urban-rural gap, said Rahman in his statement.