Overseas Malaysians donated over RM10mil to Tabung Harapan, says Deputy Finance Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians abroad have donated more than RM10mil towards Tabung Harapan Malaysia (THM), said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah (pic).

"More and more Malaysians are coming forward to donate towards the fund. This includes donations from Malaysians living abroad.

"So far, Malaysians living abroad have donated more than RM10mil towards the fund," he said when replying a supplementary question raised by Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) during Question and Answer Time in Parliament on Wednesday (July 25).

As of Tuesday (July 24), Amiruddin said a total of 289,002 online donations were recorded.

"As of 3pm Tuesday, a total of RM161,896,353.6 in donations were collected for the fund," he added.

Asked by Fong if the Government will fix a cut off date to halt collection towards the fund, Amiruddin said this has yet to be decided.

He said the donations would be used to settle the Federal Government's debt.

"It must be noted that the fund will not be able to repay all of the Government's debts, which was inherited from projects and scandals such as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)," he added.

Amiruddin also denied suggestion by Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) that the Government was collecting money from the rakyat to pay off its debts.

He said the fund was created after patriotic Malaysians started coming forward to donate monies to the Government to help settle its RM1 trillion debt.

He added the Cabinet decided to set up the fund on May 30 so that it would be managed in a transparent manner.

He also said that donors can claim tax breaks on donations made towards the fund.