Pensioners hope for better deal

Published on: Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Text Size:

Pic from Pexels.com for illustration only.

In the 1980s, the maximum salary of a director in a government department was about RM3,000 to RM4,000. Due to the small amount of pension received after retirement, the government classified him as the B40 group.

As a pensioner, he receives his monthly pension via his bank account. Later, every pensioner classified as B40 group received a yearly bonus, which was devised by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

This bonus was known as “Bantuan Rakyat Satu Malaysia” or BR1M. Those who are in this B40 group, were advised to create a bank account; so that they too would receive the said bonus through their banks.

However, about two and a half years ago, new authorities took over. They renamed the bonus from BR1M to BSH or Bantuan Sara Hidup. They slashed out many of the normal receivers, and their system of discharging bonus does not reflect good governance.

Hence, old pensioners and the general public handicapped in operating the computer have to suffer hardship, since they have to queue up at the relevant Inland Revenue Board to find out about their fate.

Those who are lucky received a voucher number to collect the bonus payment at a selected bank. People flocked banks. There was a long queue, much longer during this time since they had to stand one meter apart.

Many of those who managed to reach the bank’s counters found that their names were not in the list. The clerk behind the counter advised them to come again a few days later.

For someone who was a government servant for 30 years, I would say it seemed like there was no synchronisation between the Inland Revenue Board, The Ministry of Finance and the relevant bank.

Their inability to deliver good governance have caused both the public and pensioners to suffer. I can only hope that such weakness can be addressed and solved in the near future.

- Pensioner