KUALA LUMPUR: The government is ready to consider applications from farmers and traders for additional subsidised petrol quota under the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) initiative if there is proof of their use exceeding the set quota.
Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that currently, all Malaysians with an active driving licence are eligible to 300 litres per month at the subsidised price, which is deemed adequate for daily needs, including the use of electric generators and small machines.
“There will always be challenges and exceptions to the rule. For example, we allow (e-hailing drivers) to request a higher quota or eligibility as long as we get support from the e-hailing company stating that they are full-time players.
“We will also get data from the company in stages to allow us to check. So, if there is a situation involving traders or farmers, the government can study their application, but we need a confirmation mechanism before approval is given,” he said at a media briefing on the RON95 subsidy rationalisation here on Tuesday (Sept 23).
Amir Hamzah’s comments came in response to questions on whether the government would consider a special Budi95 quota for certain groups.
He added that the government would have a usage record based on identification card (MyKad) number, which would allow additional quota privileges to be revoked if any abuse was detected.
There was feedback from several parties on Monday (Sept 22) that the Budi95 initiative might not take into account the realities of a farmer’s life, including the use of petrol in field work, along with equipment such as water pumps, grass cutters, seeding machines, fertiliser and pesticide pumps commonly used by farmers.
Amir Hamzah also noted the difference between the Budi95 mechanism and the Centralised Database (Padu) introduced by the government for a previous subsidy rationalisation, stating that Padu was used widely for data analysis, including in determining policies and sensitivity studies by ministries and government agencies.
“Padu is rich with data and is now used by many agencies and ministries for analytics. Demand for the use of Padu data is rising, and it will help the government in making scenario analysis and setting certain cut-off points,” he added.
He stressed that the system to implement Budi95 only required limited Padu data, as the qualification criteria were simple – namely, being a Malaysian national and owning a valid driving license. – Bernama
