KUALA LUMPUR: Government subsidies and cash assistance are not meant to pamper the people or encourage continued dependence, but serve as social safety nets that protect purchasing power and stabilise the economy amid rising living costs.
Experts believe that assistance such as fuel subsidies, the Rahmah Cash Contribution (STR) and the Rahmah Basic Contribution (Sara) should be viewed beyond their direct financial benefits to recipients, as they also help contain price pressures and support consumer spending.
National Council of Professors fellow Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said subsidies and cash assistance should not be seen as pampering the people, as these mechanisms play an important role in controlling inflation, reducing consumer expenditure and helping to contain the impact of rising petrol prices on the cost of other goods and services.
"By controlling fuel prices, the purchasing power of the money held by the people does not erode as quickly, because when petrol prices rise, the cost of goods also increases. We must look at subsidies and cash assistance not merely as ‘giving fish’, but in a broader context, as helping to control and stabilise product prices.
"Overall, subsidies in Malaysia help control inflation by setting ceiling prices for basic goods such as rice and cooking oil, preventing market prices from soaring when global costs rise,” he told Bernama.
Azmi said other countries, including the United Kingdom, also used subsidies to help their people cope with rising utility costs, particularly electricity bills, during difficult economic conditions.
He was commenting on a statement by Pasir Puteh Member of Parliament Datuk Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, who urged the government to reduce cash assistance and focus more on empowering the people to generate their own income.
During the debate on the Supply Bill 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat, Nik Muhammad Zawawi said government allocations should instead focus on providing equipment and tools that would enable people to work and improve their living standards in the long term.
Meanwhile, political analyst Assoc Prof Dr Mazlan Ali said cash assistance should not be associated with laziness or excessive dependence on the government, as many recipients were employed but still earned insufficient income to meet their basic needs.
He said gig workers, farmers and minimum-wage earners were among those facing cost-of-living pressures despite having an income.
"Negative labels attached to subsidy recipients, such as calling them ‘lazy’ or ‘too dependent on the government’, have profound psychosocial and structural impacts on vulnerable groups. When assistance is equated with personal failure, recipients feel inferior, ashamed and lose self-confidence.
"Social stigma causes some individuals or families in desperate need to choose not to apply for assistance they are entitled to, for fear of being judged by their communities. This worsens hidden poverty,” he said.
Mazlan, who is also director of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), said discussions on subsidies should take into account the realities faced by recipients rather than be embroiled in political polemics over the amount of assistance provided.
He said the more important question was the extent to which government assistance could protect vulnerable groups from economic pressures while giving them opportunities to improve their living standards.
Mazlan said the debate on subsidies should therefore shift from how much assistance was provided to how effectively it could improve living standards and social mobility, ensuring that welfare policies did not merely become tools of political rhetoric. - Bernama
