ALMOST 5.6 million Malaysians are currently receiving monthly assistance under the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah, or SARA, programme, with total eligibility for 2025 amounting to RM5 billion and spending levels indicating near-full utilisation, the government told the Dewan Negara.
Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that as of Dec 17, close to 5.6 million SARA recipients, including newly approved appeals, had used their MyKad to purchase essential goods at registered outlets, recording a utilisation rate of 99 per cent and total spending of RM4.59 billion.
“For the one-off SARA appreciation payment extended to more than 22 million adult Malaysians, over 20 million recipients have made purchases, representing 92 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries, with total spending exceeding RM1.91 billion,” he said.
He added that the government remains committed to continuously monitoring the implementation of assistance programmes to ensure that aid reaches those who are genuinely in need.
“The government is committed and will continue to monitor the current situation to ensure that government assistance programmes are channelled to those who require them,” he said.
Amir Hamzah was responding to a question from Senator Mohd Hasbie Muda on the Finance Ministry’s long-term measures to ensure that the implementation of targeted subsidies proceeds smoothly, without technical issues or misuse of MyKad for SARA assistance, during the Dewan Negara sitting.
Elaborating further, the minister said the SARA payment system had undergone significant upgrades to cope with the surge in transactions following the rollout of the one-off SARA appreciation payment and the monthly SARA assistance for recipients of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah.
“Based on the current performance of SARA implementation, transactions per minute stand at 7,000 compared with 2,700 per minute previously, and are expected to reach 10,000 transactions per minute after further system enhancements by the end of this year,” he said.
“At this point, the average number of transactions per minute is 1,000, taking into account system stability and the purchasing patterns of recipients,” he added.
Amir Hamzah said the government has not identified any significant challenges in the use of SARA so far, citing the consistently high utilisation rate as evidence that the programme is functioning as intended and meeting the needs of its target groups. - December 18, 2025
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