PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced a RM200mil Geran Sejahtera Madani to assist hawkers, small traders, night market operators and mothers running businesses from home.
The Prime Minister said the grant, which forms part of a broader package of measures aimed at easing the burden on Malaysians, will take effect from Tuesday, Sept 1.
Anwar announced the initiatives during his National Day 2026 address at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here on Sunday (Aug 30).
He said the government will also increase its microfinancing facility by another RM1bil, bringing the total allocation for 2026 from RM5bil to RM6bil.
Anwar also announced a 50% increase in maintenance allocations for all types of schools next year, from RM1bil to RM1.5bil.
The allocation will cover national schools, Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools, religious schools, tahfiz and pondok institutions, as well as special education facilities.
He said the Education Ministry had been instructed to go to every district and examine applications for infrastructure repairs submitted by schools, with maintenance work targeted to begin as early as January 2027.
Meanwhile, he said the AI untuk Rakyat programme will be opened to Malaysians aged between 18 and 30.
“A total of 100,000 youths who complete the prescribed modules will receive three-month free subscriptions to selected artificial intelligence applications, including Malaysia’s IlmuChat, Gemini Enterprise from the United States, as well as China’s Wonderclip and MuleRun,” he said.
Anwar also announced that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will provide RM1bil to strengthen digital capabilities in the public healthcare sector.
The initiative will include the implementation of Electronic Medical Records systems and improved internet connectivity at 150 hospitals and more than 2,000 public health clinics nationwide.
The measures announced will take effect from Sept 1, except for the increased school maintenance allocation, which is for 2027.
