Leave No One Out Zahid Urges Gov T To Widen Bpn Scope

---

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has urged the government to widen the scope of Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) to include those in need who don't qualify on the surface to receive the financial aid
In a statement, Zahid (above) said that the suggested move is to prevent a situation where those in need are left out due to bureaucracy
He highlighted a certain group of people who were automatically disqualified from the BPN because they have business registration records with the Companies Commission Of Malaysia (SSM)
Those who have a record with SSM are qualified to apply for Geran Khas Prihatin but one of the requirements is that their businesses must remain active
"My concern is that these BPN applicants may have had SSM registered businesses but those businesses are no longer active. "Perhaps they could have gone back to work, or became self-employed with a meagre revenue or no revenue at all
"Under the economic consideration, they have to be included to receive BPN but unfortunately they were excluded as they have a record with SSM although their businesses are not active anymore," Zahid said
The Bagan Datuk MP noted that there are many people who run small and medium businesses
"They earn small incomes from their companies, and then there are those who have recorded a meagre annual revenue or incurred losses," he said
Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth exco Muzzammil Ismail (above) urged the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to review its BPN system and reopen appeals
"Too many people expressed frustrations over the rejection of their aid application
"They were hoping for the aid in these trying times after almost two months of not working
"The appeal system must be reopened so that no eligible individual is left behind," he said
Yesterday, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz announced that a total of 2.3 million new applications and appeals for BPN have been approved with an additional RM1 billion allocation
Cumulatively, a total of RM11 billion has been disbursed
The BPN is part of the RM260 billion Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package
The Finance Ministry had opened new applications and appeals for the BPN between April 1 and April 30.  - Mkini

---