Nanta calls for balance between subsidy reforms, public concerns

KUCHING: The government must balance economic considerations with the need to ease the financial burden on the people when making decisions on fuel subsidies, says Works Minister, Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said while subsidy reforms were important from an economic management perspective, the government also needed to listen to public concerns, particularly when changes could affect the rakyat.

Nanta said the government might have to compromise on certain subsidy-related measures to ensure efforts to manage the economy did not place additional pressure on the people.

“Sometimes, even though we can think deeply from the economic aspect, perhaps something may be quite painful if we reduce subsidies and so on to manage the economy,” he told reporters after the handover of the retendered Customs Enforcement Office’s Seizure Storage construction project at the Kuching Marine Office in Jalan Bako, Muara Tebas, here today.

He said the government could not consider economic factors in isolation, especially when subsidy rationalisation could directly affect people’s daily expenses.

“But because of the calls and so on, we also need to take into account the people’s calls,” he added.

“So, in the sense of reducing the burden on the people, perhaps we have to make a choice to compromise.”

Nanta said the government welcomed initiatives aimed at reducing the financial pressure faced by the people, stressing that helping the rakyat was the fundamental purpose of subsidies.

“We welcome whatever can be said to ease the burden on the people. The purpose of subsidies is nothing other than to ease the burden on the people,” he reiterated.

He was responding to questions on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement on Wednesday regarding changes to the diesel subsidy scheme.

Among the changes announced was the expansion of the BUDI MADANI Diesel eligibility transfer facility, allowing registered owners of private diesel vehicles to transfer their subsidy eligibility to an eligible Malaysian who is the actual user of the vehicle.

Previously, the facility was limited to immediate family members but it has now been expanded to allow owners with more than one eligible private diesel vehicle to transfer the monthly subsidy eligibility for each vehicle to up to three other individuals.

The changes are intended to provide greater flexibility for eligible diesel vehicle owners while ensuring the subsidy continues to reach those who actually use the vehicles.