PETALING JAYA: The one-off RM30 ewallet payment announced by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020 was far too little, says Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
During the administration of the former Pakatan government, Muhyiddin said he had urged then finance minister Lim Guan Eng to increase direct assistance to the people, given the rising cost of living burdening Malaysians.
“Some aid that was slashed, I asked for it to be reinstated.
“But the answer I received was that the government was unable to due to a lack of finances.
“In Pakatan’s 2020 budget, Lim announced the RM30 ewallet handout.
“This amount was too little,” said Muhyiddin in a Facebook post on Thursday (Nov 10).
During the tabling of Budget 2020 in 2019, the one-off RM30 payout was paid out to Malaysians aged 18 years and above earning below RM100,000 annually.
After the Perikatan Nasional government took over in March 2020, Muhyiddin said he directed the finance minister to find ways to channel direct aid to Malaysians affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was told there were some sources that could be used to assist the people,” said Muhyiddin.
As a result, Muhyiddin said the Perikatan government, which was under his leadership for 17 months, announced economic stimulus packages and welfare aid worth RM530bil.
“Things that could have been implemented by Pakatan were instead carried out by Perikatan,” said Muhyiddin, adding this was because they cared.
The Pakatan government was in power for 22 months before it collapsed in February 2020.
Muhyiddin was later sworn in as prime minister in March 2020 but stepped down after 17 months when a group of Umno MPs retracted support for him.
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob later replaced Muhyiddin as the Prime Minister in August 2022.