Pakatan will provide aid but not BR1M, Azmin insists

Selangor menteri besar sticks to his guns that the monetary aid is a form of bribe.

SHAH ALAM: Azmin Ali has insisted that Pakatan Harapan will not hand out the BR1M cash aid should it wrest Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional, insisting that it is a form of bribery.

“Don’t tell me I will continue a corrupt practice? I’m combating graft,” the PKR deputy president told reporters after attending a monthly assembly for Selangor government staff here.

But the Selangor menteri besar stressed that PH would convert BR1M into a form of statutory aid that will be managed by an institution if there was a need for such an aid, in echoing a stance taken by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

In an apparent “U-turn”, PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad had on Saturday said the opposition is willing to convert BR1M into a form of statutory aid based on laws and the ordinary budget, and not a special payment listed on any political party’s manifesto.

To this Azmin added that the aid would not be managed by politicians.

“We have made that clear.”

Last year, Azmin said that BR1M is a form of political bribery that did “not empower the people”.

The Gombak MP had said this in December after Mahathir said BR1M handouts were tantamount to corruption and were therefore illegal and could even be considered a crime.

The BR1M amount ranges from RM450 to RM1,200 for those who qualify, depending on their marital status and monthly household income. -FMT