Anwar, who is also the finance minister, insisted that he is being fair in helping the lower-income group.

He, however, said the government needs adequate resources to help this group.

“We inherited a debt of RM1.5 trillion and we don’t want to tax the public, so we tax the wealthy.

“It’s not like Robin Hood, we are just cancelling subsidies,” he said during a meeting with students at the National Defence University (UPNM) here today.

Tabling the 2025 budget on Oct 18, Anwar said several subsidies will be withdrawn from the T15 group.

Last week, economy minister Rafizi Ramli said the details surrounding the T15 will be finalised in a month before it is tabled to the Cabinet for approval.

He also said the T15 will likely be determined based on locality rather than a national definition, guided by a household’s net disposable income and the number of dependents.

Various parties have since urged the government to clarify which households would be considered T15 and review the classification of household income to ensure that targeted subsidies help the right groups.

Today, Anwar said Malaysia is one of the few countries with the highest subsidies but imposed minimum taxes.

He also said previous government policies saw the wealthy enjoy electricity subsidies.

“The government just wants them (the wealthy) to pay the costs and, to me, that’s fair.

“If they want to politicise it and accuse the government of being unfair and unreasonable, that’s their business,” he said.

In 2022, Putrajaya spent some RM55.44 billion on subsidies, an increase of 322.1% compared to 2021.