KUALA LUMPUR – The Finance Ministry (MoF) today clarified that the 1% quota for persons with disabilities (PwD) allocated under the Malaysia Short-term Employment Programme (MyStep) initiative will still be in force although it was not mentioned when the Budget 2023 was tabled last Friday.
According to MoF, it is aware that Budget 2023 was still subject to Parliament’s approval after the 15th general election(GE15), but the ministry believes it is necessary on its part to provide clarification on some matters that are not clear or have been misinterpreted in relation to Budget 2023.
The ministry said this is because there was a time constraint for Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to detail the more than 200 initiatives during the Budget’s presentation.
“The 1% quota for PwDs has indeed been included in the MyStep initiative which will provide 50,000 job opportunities on a contract basis, but this matter was not mentioned during the presentation because most of the main measures of Budget 2023 had to be presented in general to comply with the set time limit,” explained MoF in a statement today.
MoF said there is also a proposal to increase the MyStep salary scale by RM100 to between RM1,500 and RM2,100.
Apart from this, MoF said the government will also continue to empower the disabled through various measures including direct cash assistance, mobility assistance, the construction of special nurseries for the disabled, and the improvement of teaching facilities in schools for the disabled.
The media had previously reported that there were parties who had asked the government to review the quota system for the MyStep programme since the special quota for the disabled was not announced this time around unlike in the Budget 2022. – Bernama October 12, 2022
