AT the outset it would be proper to remember that at the launch of the Menu Rahmah initiative, the Domestic Trade and Living Costs Minister, Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, did not make any comment regarding the sustainability of this new effort as a long-term programme undertaken by the unity government.
He only indicated that this was an immediate plan to provide meals to the poor, especially those categorised under the B40 group. He re-emphasised this point just recently saying that what the government wanted for the immediate term was to lessen the burden for the B40 group in getting a proper meal while the actual problem of cost of living would be tackled by other means.