THE Pakatan Harapan presidential council lashed out at the Government for taking sole credit on the decision to waive loan moratorium interest fee for the B50 group.
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s decision to waive loan moratorium interest fee for three months, which will benefit the B50 community.
“However, we are upset that the premier didn’t recognise and mention the fact that the proposal was made under Section 1.7 of the memorandum on understanding (MoU) signed between the Government and Pakatan on Sept 13.
“In fact, it was made to seem like the idea came from the Government while it has been Pakatan’s stand all the while, which was why we included it in the MoU,” it said in a statement.
The statement was signed by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu and United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) president Datuk Seri Madius Tangau.
Last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the Government was in talks with banks to get them waive interest fees accrued in deferred loans, especially for the B50 group.
This came as the Government announced that household debts have increased by 93.3% due to the pandemic crisis.
“We talked to the banks”
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the measure will involve recipients of the moratorium from the bottom 50% of all Malaysians, in terms of income classification, for a period of three months in the fourth quarter of 2021.
On that note, Pakatan leaders said Ismail was breaching the Malaysian Family concept by not crediting the measure to the MoU, which brings their trust to the Government into disrepute.
“We wish to remind all and sundry that at the beginning, the Government was against our proposal to offer interest fee waiver on loan moratoriums.
“And that was why we included the measure in the MoU and we not only met Tengku Zafrul on it but also top management of our commercial banks,” it mentioned.
Although the banks’ CEOs were initially reluctant, Pakatan leaders said that they managed to convince them of its benefits, which was then accepted by Ismail.
“This interest fee waiver win belongs to all Malaysians and Pakatan will continue to be firm on our role as check and balance to the Government,” it remarked. – Oct 14, 2021
