KUALA LUMPUR — Putrajaya conducted a pilot project on implementing targeted petrol subsidies from 2022 until 2023 before announcing the policy to the public this year, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Dismissing claims that the unity government tended to “announce first, study later”, Rafizi said the pilot project involved the use of identity cards and e-wallets at selected fuel stations nationwide.
“Therefore, it (targeted subsidy) has been tested in terms of verification of eligibility at the backend. Additionally, the Central Database Hub (PADU) was also used for several cases.
“We took 20 months (to do this pilot study). It is only those in the opposition who say that the government would announce its policies first but not study (implementation),” said the minister.
Rafizi (Pandan-PH) was replying a supplementary question by Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (Kuala Krai-PN) who asked if disbursal methods for the targeted RON95 subsidy, due to be implemented mid-next year, had been tested first before the policy was announced recently.
“This is because the unity government tends to announce its policies first and study them later,” said Abdul Latiff.
The original question was from Suhaizan Kaiat (Pulai-PH), who asked Rafizi to state whether using identity cards to verify RON95 subsidy recipients would be feasible given potential problems such as damaged MyKad chips, poor internet connectivity in rural areas, fraud and additional cost to install card verification systems, besides slowing down the whole process of buying fuel at the pump.
Rafizi said that the government acknowledged the various challenges that would come with using MyKad to verify subsidy eligibility.
“The government is committed to ensuring that the mechanism that would be decided later will be appropriate and not burdensome for the people,” the minister said.
He reiterated the government’s promise that 85% of people would still be able to enjoy subsidised RON95, and that net household income would be used in determining who was and wasn’t eligible for the subsidy. – November 12, 2024