The national survey, conducted by Kajidata Research Sdn Bhd on 1,031 recipients and non-recipients of BR1M under the supervision of professor Syed Arabi Idid, found that 68.7% of the respondents gave a thumbs up for BR1M with 63.9% of them disagreeing that it was a form of bribery.
Syed Arabi, who shared the findings with Bernama, said it was not surprising then that 71.1% of the respondents felt that BR1M, which was introduced in 2012, should be continued.
Amid the rising cost of living, 65.1% of the respondents said BR1M had helped alleviate their financial burden, with only 25.6% saying otherwise, the former rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Kajidata’s advisor said.
Slightly more than half of the respondents were happy that the BR1M aid, amounting to as much as RM1,200 this time around, had reached the target group. However, 33.8% of them felt that BR1M had failed to serve its purpose.
Results showed that 80% of the recipients used the BR1M money on basic necessities, with 85.3% of them using up the subsidy within a month.
The study, conducted from Feb 20-Feb 27, also found that 31.8% of BR1M recipients spent the handout on basic necessities with a similar percentage spending on daily expenses.
Some used the money to pay monthly bills and even their children’s school fees. The study also found that with previous BR1M handouts, the more frugal ones took up to three months to finish the money or even managed to save it.
Kajidata’s study also noted that BR1M had compelled the people in genuine need of financial help to register with the authorities, creating a valuable comprehensive database on the needy.
Syed Arabi and his team said the same database could be used to customise aid programmes for target groups and monitor the progress of those in the needy category.
“For example, there may be those who need more than what BR1M could provide. They can be referred to agencies like Lembaga Zakat that could provide meaningful assistance. As their income is also monitored by the inland revenue department, we can know how many have really improved their lot and are no longer dependent on aid,” he said.
Kajidata’s study was conducted through computer aided telephone interviews across the 222 parliamentary constituencies, including in Sabah and Sarawak. The respondents came from different age groups, income levels, educational backgrounds, race and genders.