Rafizi dismisses talk of impending hike in petrol prices

The Star

Rafizi Ramli has brushed aside claims that there will be a hike in petrol prices soon.  Speaking to reporters on Saturday (March 23) after a town hall session on the Central Database Hub (Padu) registration, the Economy Minister said it was not possible for a decision such as a hike in petrol prices, to be made given it was too close to the Padu implementation date.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/eptr5t6n  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 Is it true that there is a windfall? Will the oil subsidies be withdrawn before the election?

00:05 Not true. The second answer I gave was not true.

00:09 The windfall, who brought the windfall?

00:12 No, not true. I think we have been very truthful to the people,

00:18 that we want to put all the assistance and system, support in place first,

00:25 before any decision on the oil subsidies is made.

00:31 Hence why we are talking about the windfall, because we need to put this in place first.

00:36 So, for example, the deadline for the windfall is 31 March 2024,

00:43 it is impossible for there to be a decision on the oil and diesel subsidies

00:50 because it is too close to 31 March. We need to clear the data,

00:55 we need to inform the public about who will get the subsidies and so on.

01:01 The government has announced before that the implementation of the oil subsidies

01:09 will be considered from the second generation up.

01:14 Because when we look at the timeline, we need the first generation

01:21 and maybe the first 4-5 months to resolve the issue of the support system

01:26 to be given assistance to the public.

01:29 So we are in that process now. Until that process is ready, it has to be sequential.

01:35 Okay, one more. The Perak government said that 50% of the people in Perak

01:39 haven't registered, mostly in the rural area.

01:42 They have manpower issues, they need to deploy people and all that.

01:46 So they are suggesting, or they are hoping the government to extend the deadline.

01:49 Just now you mentioned that the deadline is not going to be extended.

01:52 But how are you going to help them?

01:54 Because we will help as much as possible.

01:58 I think an exercise like this, so long as we understand that the database

02:07 of 30 million citizens are already in Padu.

02:12 So that's why we are at this stage where we map risk for exclusion.

02:23 So we come down to Selangor today because we know the risk for exclusion

02:29 is highest in Selangor and in KL.

02:33 Not in Perak for example. Because in the last one week,

02:38 we have to figure out how to deploy our limited resources.

02:42 That means that in Perak, when we have mapped, in other countries too,

02:49 when the risk of exclusion is not as high as in Selangor,

02:54 it means that the government data is already available,

02:57 already has information about those who are eligible to get help.

03:03 The risk in Selangor and other areas is that there are many areas

03:08 that have low income profiles, but they are not in Padu,

03:13 they have not registered yet, and they are also not in other data,

03:17 such as SDR, IKASIH and so on.

03:19 So I think we will go on that case by case basis.

03:23 But either way, the data is already there.

03:28 It's just that it's not being compiled now.

03:30 So there will be slightly longer steps when we start providing that help.

03:38 Because if they don't register, for example,

03:42 for them to save, they are eligible to get help or not.

03:46 Like you guys, you have to go into Padu first, you have to save first.

03:50 But if you never had an account in Padu, how are you going to save?

03:53 So on the 31st of March, that's why we want people to register,

03:56 open an account, whatever it is.

03:58 When the government has decided and announced,

04:01 people like this, this much help, this much help, right?

04:04 At that time, people who did not register were struggling to get in,

04:07 but they said, "Oh, we don't have an account, so we can't check."

04:10 When they can't check, they can't change their bank account and so on.

04:15 So for the time being, they are not struggling to get in.

04:20 But when we start giving that money, the process will be a bit longer.

04:26 We will prescribe the next step for those people

04:29 who have been identified, are eligible to get help,

04:32 but have not yet registered, how they want to save, their eligibility and so on.

04:37 [ Silence ]

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