PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today acknowledged that government assistance has yet to do enough to ease the cost-of-living pressures faced by Malaysians, saying more needs to be done despite billions of ringgit already spent on aid and subsidies.
Anwar said the government was aware that households, businesses and communities continued to face financial pressures, and that existing measures could not be treated as a solution to all their problems.
“Am I satisfied? No. Can this reduce the hardship caused by the cost of living? Not yet. We acknowledge that continuous measures must be taken,” he said during his Merdeka Day address at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) today.
He said the government had to ensure that its policies benefited people across the income spectrum, including the B40, M40 and T20 groups, as well as communities in Sabah and Sarawak.
Anwar said the combined allocation for Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) and Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) had reached RM15 billion this year, the highest to date.
He also rejected the perception that the M40 had been left out of government assistance.
Among the measures that benefited the group, he said, was the two-percentage-point reduction in income tax introduced in 2023, which resulted in about RM1 billion in foregone government revenue.
The government had also increased Bantuan Awal Persekolahan to RM150 per pupil, regardless of family background.
SARA had been expanded from one payment to two, while the government was also considering appeals for further improvements to the assistance, he said.
On electricity subsidies, Anwar said the targeted subsidy measures had benefited 85% of users, with the government bearing a cost of about RM4 billion.
The government was also spending about RM40 billion on petrol and diesel subsidies, which he said benefited almost all M40 and T20 households.
But he stressed that the figures did not mean the government believed the problems faced by Malaysians had been resolved.
“This is not a curtain to cover up the grievances of the people. I understand that the people are still struggling with the cost of living,” he said.
Anwar said micro, small and medium enterprises were also dealing with rising operating costs, while problems remained with school infrastructure and public healthcare facilities.
He said he continued to hear complaints about conditions at hospitals and clinics, including long queues faced by patients and their families in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and other areas.
Meanwhile, Anwar announced that billions of ringgit recovered through legal proceedings from proceeds linked to wrongdoing would be channelled back to the people, particularly for education and healthcare.
He said the recovered funds involved cases where action had been taken against companies or individuals over wrongdoing, corruption or abuse of power.
Anwar said the government wanted to ensure that money recovered through court decisions and other legal processes ultimately benefited the public.
“Where wealth has been seized through the courts and legal process arising from wrongdoing by companies or individuals, corruption or abuse of power, the amount involved runs into billions of ringgit,” he said.
“Today, I declare that all funds recovered from illegal proceeds through the legal process and decisions of the judiciary will be returned to the people, especially in the areas of education and healthcare.”
He said the government would continue addressing weaknesses while taking further steps to maintain economic stability and respond to the pressures faced by Malaysians. – August 30, 2026
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