THE Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has clarified the errors in Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s speech yesterday after opposition MPs raised the spectre of inaccurate figures.
The “real figures”, according to PMO, were RM34 mil allocated for 68,336 e-hailing drivers at RM500 each while RM22.2 mil set aside for 37,127 taxi and bus drivers as well as tour guides at RM600 each.
As for wage subsidy, RM7.4 bil had been allocated across 313,000 employers and 2.5 million staff nationwide.
Earlier in the Dewan Rakyat, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz clarified that there were inaccuracies in Muhyiddin’s national address yesterday.
“I believe a correction will be issued by the PM’s office,” he told the Dewan Rakyat this morning in response to questions by Saifuddin Ismail Nasution (Kulim-Bandar Baharu-PKR).
In his speech yesterday, Muhyiddin highlighted some of the aid delivered via the government’s economic stimulus packages, including allowances for drivers of various forms of public transport.
“To date, RM11.14 bil has been channelled to 10.4 million Bantuan Prihatin Nasional recipients while 1.4 million e-hailing drivers have received RM500 cash allowances for a total of RM34 mil.
“As many as 477,000 taxi drivers, tour bus drivers, and bus drivers have received RM600 cash allowances for a total of RM28.8 mil,” Muhyiddin had said.
But opposition politicians such as Anthony Loke (Seremban-DAP) called out the prime minister, pointing out the mismatch. – July 21, 2020
