By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 10: The federal government has been urged to review the mechanism of the RM100 one-off Sumbangan Asas Rahman (Sara) assistance scheme as its restrictions on purchases are impractical for rural communities, particularly the elderly and persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) permanent chairman Dr John Brian Anthony said the aid, though aimed at easing living costs, fails to address the actual needs of rural households due to its limitation to only 14 categories of goods.
“Recipients in remote areas often have to sell these items to obtain cash, not because they do not value the assistance, but because they need to meet more urgent necessities,” he said in a statement today.
He noted that rural residents rely heavily on cash to buy vegetables, fish, meat at local markets, boat fuel that can cost tens of ringgit per trip, healthcare in towns, official dealings with government offices, and to provide pocket money for schoolchildren.
“These essential needs cannot be met through the restricted items under SARA, making the scheme unsuitable to their real-life circumstances,” he added.
Brian stressed that the elderly and PWDs in the interior are among the worst affected as they cannot travel easily to towns to shop at designated outlets, rendering the aid almost meaningless.
“What’s more worrying is that some have had to hand over their identity cards to children or relatives to use in towns, which is clearly an offence and exposes them to misuse,” he warned.
PBDS echoed the views of economist and Sarawak government economic advisor Dato Dr Madeline Bema, who had earlier criticised the scheme’s impracticality for the interior population.
Brian called on the government to re-evaluate the policy, suggesting that either direct cash assistance or an expansion of eligible goods categories would be a more inclusive and meaningful approach.
“The Sara assistance must ensure that the most vulnerable, especially the elderly and PWDs, truly benefit, rather than being burdened with new challenges,” he stressed.
On July 23, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the RM100 one-off contribution for every adult Malaysian citizen aged 18 and above through MyKad under the Sara programme.
Anwar said the contribution in conjunction with National Day on Aug 31 was an immediate effort to ease the cost of living burden, besides as an appreciation to the people, benefiting 22 million citizens with an allocation of RM2 billion.
This aid may be spent on 14 categories of essential products at over 7,300 selected retail outlets nationwide. — DayakDaily
