Mahdzir said Mahathir had spoken about it in a speech at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, on Feb 16, 2020, when he was prime minister in the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

“The ‘Rahmah’ concept has been described as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘idea’ under the Madani concept. To me, this is a glaring mistake.

“I would like to shed some light to correct this narrative because we know where it originated from. It was first presented by Mahathir in a speech in Kota Kinabalu on Feb 16, 2020,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook today.

“In his speech, Mahathir had said the government would use the ‘Rahmah’ concept as a model for Islamic governance. It is universal, inclusive, transparent and suitable for Malaysia’s multicultural society.

“We believe that this will produce a positive impact on Malaysia and its people because it will improve social welfare, prosperity and the harmony of multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities,” Mahdzir quoted Mahathir as saying at the time.

He said the “Rahmah” initiative was linked to the “Wawasan Kemakmuran Bersama 2030” programme, which was discontinued after the collapse of the PH government in late February 2020.

“In conclusion, the ‘Rahmah’ initiative is actually not the idea of the Madani government, let alone Anwar’s as it is being touted,” he said.

Under Anwar’s government, the government had introduced Menu Rahmah as the first of many Rahmah initiatives.

The Menu Rahmah initiative, which offers meals at RM5 or less, was launched in January as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the people’s burden, especially those in the B40 group.

The most recent example of the “Rahmah” initiative was the exemption on toll charges on 33 highways from April 19 to 21 and April 24 in conjunction with the Hari Raya festive season.