Sara Rahmah Cash Aid Seen As Continuation Of Najib S Br1m Rafizi

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Assistance programmes such as the Rahmah Necessities Aid (Sara) and Rahmah Cash Aid (STR) need to be institutionalised in the same way done in other welfare states, and not be used as political capital by the government, former economy minister Rafizi Ramli said.
Commenting on Budget 2026, Rafizi (above) also characterised both programmes as a continuation of the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) welfare scheme, which was introduced during the premiership of Najib Abdul Razak.
He also mentioned whichever government is in power will maintain this welfare programme.
"This can no longer be political capital, it's the same. Every government will maintain it (welfare programme)...the issue is which government succeeds in improving it.
"At present, our cash assistance system...this still hasn't been institutionalised yet. What I mean by institutionalised is when we have a child, we know when we register our child, we don't need to apply to get that education.
“Schooling is provided universally. For those who qualify, there are all sorts (of assistance).
"We haven't institutionalised social assistance yet. Up to now, STR or Sara is still seen as a continuation of the old BR1M, and later if the government changes, it becomes something else, not STR or Sara.
“However, if it's institutionalised for those who qualify, the government pays every month," he said in his Yang Berhenti Menteri podcast show last night.
Why burden teachers?
The Pandan MP also criticised the government's announcement that the general school assistance initiative of RM150 would continue to be distributed in cash to parents by teachers.
Calling it a step backwards, Rafizi also said it would add to teachers' workload, who should be focused on educating students.
"For politicians, that might be good for publicity, but for teachers, they’d probably be upset, because their job is to teach, not to suddenly become welfare officers.
"If the government is hoping to win a major election simply by handing out aid, well, during Najib’s time it was cash is king- but that was his view.
“I think under Anwar’s (Ibrahim) government, we should move away from the old-fashioned way of making people queue up for assistance,” he added.
Yesterday, during the presentation of Budget 2026 in the Dewan Rakyat, the prime minister announced that school assistance aid of RM150 will continue to be distributed in cash by teachers to parents.
Prime Minister Anwar IbrahimHe said a total of 5.2 million government school students would receive the assistance, involving a financial implication of RM800 million.
Burdening PTPTN
The former PKR deputy president also cautioned the government about its free education initiative under the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), saying that this will further affect the latter.
The measure was announced by Anwar yesterday, aimed at easing the financial burden on low-income families.
Under the scheme, 5,800 students from poor households who are pursuing studies at public universities will be granted full education funding.
Rafizi, however, said that PTPTN at present, is already burdened with government-guaranteed debts totalling RM41 billion.
He said the government should instead focus on efforts to recover the RM41 billion debt repayment.
"The RM41 billion PTPTN debt problem hasn't been resolved yet. It's like taking money from the left pocket to the right pocket...if we're not careful, PTPTN's existing problems will escalate further.
"I favour a thorough approach...otherwise it's merely cosmetic or a populist announcement. That's what we're worried about with PTPTN," Rafizi added. - Mkini

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