THE past few days haven’t been easy for Malaysians from the M40 group (40% of the population considered to be middle-income earners), especially when the recently-launched Pemerkasa Plus stimulus package is concerned.
Unlike those from the T20 category (20% in the top income bracket), those from the M40 are not rich, but they are not near destitute like those from the B40 group (40% who are the poorest) either. For this reason, they do not qualify for financial aid from the Government.
But this isn’t anything new. According to various news reports, those near the lower end of the M40 group are the worst hit by the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (perhaps even worse than those in the B40 category) simply because they are largely ignored.
These are the people who earn just over RM4,000 a month. While this is enough for them to make the cut to M40, the amount is by no means sufficient, especially for people living in urban areas where the cost of living has been skyrocketing even before the pandemic.
In this case, being stuck in the ‘wrong’ category means that they do not qualify for neither an automatic loan moratorium nor a moratorium on their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayments.
There’s no i-Sinar or i-Lestari withdrawals and certainly no electricity bill discounts either.
To make matters worse, there are many from the lower rungs of the M40 group who have fallen back into the B40 category. Like many others from the B40 group, they, too, are financially struggling, but unlike the B40, no financial aid will reach them.
The situation is undoubtedly worse for those in the M40 group whose businesses are not allowed to operate during the national lockdown but yet, still have mouths to feed and monthly financial obligations to meet.
What is the Government doing to help them, exactly?
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently announced the RM40 bil Pemerkasa Plus relief package to help people and businesses through the national lockdown.
It involves RM5 bil in direct fiscal injection, with those in the B40 affected by loss of income as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) not operating during the lockdown being eligible for a three-month automatic loan moratorium.
But don’t we also have people from the M40 group who are similarly affected by loss of income as their businesses are not allowed to operate during the lockdown period? Don’t they deserve financial aid from the Government as well?
Using the B40 and M40 categorisations as yardsticks to determine who is worthy of receiving aid is foolish and presumptuous, which must be done away with.
There are plenty of other factors that need to be taken into consideration as well, like the size of the family, the number of dependents, and where they reside, for example. Having more information on these would surely give you a clearer idea of the situation on ground.
So please, before you make the presumption that the middle-income group are doing well enough to not need any form of financial aid, go back to the drawing board, collect more data and conduct more research on this matter.
Who knows, what you learn may even surprise you. – June 9, 2021
