KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Oct: The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Alternative Budget 2014 proposed the use of the MyKad to replace the cash system by depositing directly into recipients’ accounts as payment method at designated stores.
The current Social Welfare Department (JKM) welfare distribution system should be replaced with a cashless payment system which enables qualified recipients to select payment for exactly what they need without utilising cash.
It is an effort to ensure a fairer and better targeted subsidy regime and encompassing welfare system.
The credit contained in the recipients’ MyKad is used to purchase essentials such as rice, flour, sugar and other necessary goods.
PR also suggests for the MyKad to be used to track expenditure made by recipients and it can be combined with other programmes with other ministries such as keeping kids in schools and additional tutoring for single mothers.
Over 8% of Malaysians live below the existing Poverty Line Income (PLI) that does not address the hardship of current realities where thousands of households earn less than RM1,000 a month.
The usual practice by the Social Welfare Department (JKM – Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat) is to credit cash directly into recipients’ accounts which sometimes leads to problems of consistent delays in cash transfer and the inability to properly ascertain whether the intended outcomes are met in the first place.