GEORGE TOWN: Recipients of the ‘Budi Madani’ targeted diesel subsidy cash aid have been griping for some time, claiming that the government had “skipped” the August payment.
All 150,000-plus recipients did not receive the cash aid in August, and the RM200 aid was disbursed again only in September and this month.
A recipient who only wanted to be known as Zaf provided The Star with a screenshot of his Budi Madani account’s payment information from budimadani.gov.my.
It shows that the aid was first credited to him on June 19, July 17, Sept 9 and recently on Oct 10 – with none credited in August.
“If there was a delay, then shouldn’t the September disbursement be RM400 instead, to cover for the previous month?
“I feel that the government is a month late now since there was no aid credited in August,” said Zaf, who drives a 15-year-old pickup truck.
Another pickup truck owner who wanted to be known only as Sammy, 33, showed The Star his savings account statement to prove that he too did not receive Budi Madani aid in August.
“I didn’t dare fill up my tank that month because the cost was high. I kept my commute to a minimum and checked my bank account regularly.
“When the August aid arrived on Sept 9, it felt more like a rebate or reimbursement instead of aid,” Sammy said.
On social media, many were commenting about where Budi Madani disbursement for August had gone, even on the Finance Ministry’s “Kementerian Kewangan” Facebook page.
Three people commented that they had e-mailed the government and publicly shared screenshots of replies from budimadani@treasury.gov.my, which are as follows: “Greetings. All approved existing and new applications and appeals for August will be paid starting from Sept 9 to facilitate simultaneous payments to all applications and for payments to be made once a month.
“Therefore, starting from August, payments for that month will be made early in the following month and payments for September will be made in October, and this will follow on for sequential payments.”
The Star has reached out to the Finance Ministry for explanation.
