PETALING JAYA: Those who do not need the RM100 Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara) cash aid should have the option to opt out and let the money be channelled to more critical areas such as education and health, says MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).
Dr Wee proposed redirecting the money to support public hospitals and award scholarships to deserving students, instead of using it for what he described as blanket populist measures.
“Rather than spending public money on populist measures that may benefit those who don’t need it, wouldn’t it be better to support those who genuinely do, while also upgrading our healthcare and education systems?” he said in a Facebook post yesterday.
Dr Wee suggested a mechanism allowing Malaysians who do not want or need the Sara assistance to voluntarily return it.
He said the funds could help reduce the elective surgery backlog for 15,000 patients facing wait times of up to 21 months in government hospitals and provide scholarships for SPM straight-A students, STPM, and matriculation graduates with excellent CGPA results who are still denied places in their preferred university programmes.
He also called for the abolition of the Rakan KKM scheme, saying “it is biased and only benefits patients who can afford to pay more to jump the queue”.
Dr Wee added that he believes Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Cabinet ministers, MPs and assemblymen would also be willing to forgo the RM100 aid.
“I will be the first to contribute mine. A win-win solution – the people get to choose, and the government wins too!” he said.
Yesterday, Anwar announced that every Malaysian aged 18 and above will receive a one-off RM100 credit via MyKad starting Aug 31 under the Sara initiative.
