The prime minister said the classification is being studied to ensure that only the wealthy pay the actual price for petrol, while 85% of the population will continue to benefit from subsidies.

“There are some who are upset, saying how can T15 survive on RM12,000? Who said RM12,000? It hasn’t been decided yet,” he said today.

“We need to determine whether those in T15 can afford it. If they can’t, then we will set the threshold higher than RM12,000 for T10 or T15; this is still undecided,” he told reporters after attending a party convention in Ipoh.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said when tabling the 2025 federal budget last week that several subsidies would be reduced for the T15 group.

The announcement has led to calls for the government to reassess the household income classification to prevent any gaps in the distribution of assistance and petrol subsidies.

Anwar lambasted those who defended subsidies for the T15 group, especially as their incomes range from RM100,000 to RM1 million.

“Why defend this? If someone has a low income, we will take that into consideration. We do not want to burden the people; the key is that 85% will not be affected by this (subsidy rationalisation),” he said.