PETALING JAYA: With the government intending to empower the middle-income group or M40 in the upcoming 2024 Budget, critical areas must be addressed, say consumer groups.
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president Mohideen Abdul Kader said the one important thing about the M40 group that must be understood is that they shouldn’t be lumped into a single category.
“The M40 ranges from people who are quite well-off to those on the margin, which means there must be targeted assistance for them. We have to consider two factors – geographical area and family size.
“For example, the M40 living in Kuala Lumpur cannot be compared with those in Arau, Perlis. They have different needs.
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“Those living in urban areas would require a higher salary, and the same goes for those with a larger family size who will need more assistance,” he added.
With this in mind, Mohideen said the government must first look into providing more affordable homes, adding that this would help those living in big cities where house prices are too high for the M40 to afford.
“The price of housing is way above their income, and so the government needs to do more to ensure houses are affordable to all because we believe people have the right to housing.
“This can be done by providing affordable loans and regulating prices,” he added.
Mohideen said the government must also ensure quality education for M40 children, adding that they should get at least a tertiary education opportunity.
On top of that, he said targeted subsidies must be introduced, while cash transfers would greatly benefit the group.
“At the moment, the subsidies benefit too many people, and this doesn’t work because not everyone needs subsidies.
“If the government can build a database of income based on family size, we can calculate the needs of an average family, and I would suggest cash transfers be given to these families.
“A large M40 family doesn’t have enough income. The government can provide monthly cash transfers to meet their basic needs.”
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) secretary-general Datuk Dr Paul Selvaraj said the M40 is struggling to put food on the table.
“We depend a lot on imported food items. We need to focus on national food security and affordability. As we have seen, the cost of living keeps rising, but people’s salaries remain stagnant,” he said.
Selvaraj said the healthcare system must also be improved so that the high medical costs at private hospitals would not burden those in the lower income brackets.
“Our healthcare system is good but overburdened. Private hospitals are costly. When those in the M40 group go to private hospitals, they have to fork out money from their own pockets, which severely impacts their savings.”
Selvaraj said Malaysians also need to be exposed to financial educational programmes and the government should make the necessary investments to make this happen.
“We need to empower them to protect them,” he added.
