Mydin hypermarket managing director Ameer Ali Mydin has urged shoppers to remain calm following glitches in the MyKasih system, which caused delays in redeeming the one-off RM100 Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) cash aid.
Ameer, however, said this was not the time to assign blame and reminded shoppers that they have until the end of the year to redeem the aid.
“The government, the finance ministry, and the industry have all been briefed on the disbursement process and there have been plenty of discussions.
“But at this point, the important thing is for the public to be reminded that there is no hurry to spend the RM100. They have until Dec 31 to use the money,” he told FMT.
Ameer said the system had not crashed but was experiencing lags, taking three to four times longer to process purchases.
“This has caused long queues at the checkout counters. We’ve been facing the issue since 8.30am,” he added.
He urged those who do not need the SARA aid immediately to wait, so that lower-income groups who truly rely on the assistance can use their RM100 first.
“This way the system can run more smoothly. Those who have received the RM100, why don’t we wait a few weeks and let the B40 who really need the goods shop first.”
Ameer said his staff were doing their best to explain to customers that the system is slow, and advised them to use cash as the regular counters were still operating as usual.
The one-off aid contribution was announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last month as an immediate effort to ease the cost of living burden. He called it an initiative that will benefit 22 million Malaysians, and involved an allocation of RM2 billion.
The aid payment, which will be credited into every eligible citizen’s MyKad, can be used to make purchases across 4,500 shops nationwide. Beneficiaries were advised to check the SARA website or the official MyKasih website for details.
However, netizens took to social media today to complain that they were unable to redeem their RM100 aid due to problems with the MyKasih system.
Many shoppers were reported to have abandoned their trolleys filled with items out of frustration, after being informed about the technical problems with the cash aid redemption.
In addition to Mydin outlets, netizens reported facing similar issues at other hypermarkets, including Lotus’s, Giant, and HeroMarket.
FMT has reached out to the finance ministry for comment.
