KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The Malaysian government’s decision to roll out the Budi95 programme for subsidised RON95 petrol to Malaysians was aimed at plugging leakages, including smuggling, first, and could perhaps be further refined, Treasury secretary-general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican said today.
Johan explained that Malaysia had previously been caught up in a public debate over the definition of the T15 top-income earning category.
He added that the government decided to set aside this debate and push forward with Budi95 first to stop leakages.
“I think at that point, government had to make a call, we have a mechanism to address RON95 subsidies.
“We choose to proceed with it, maybe putting aside the issue of the T15 debate, let’s just first address leakages – either through smuggling, foreign or corporates – first, as a first step,” he said during a debate in the post-Budget 2026 dialogue organised by the Malaysian Economic Association here.
He acknowledged University of Nottingham Malaysia’s associate professor Tricia Yeoh’s point that “a gift once given becomes a right”, but said the government decided to start doing something first.
“If we didn’t do anything, we will then spend another year or two debating. So, it’s best to at least achieve some traction rather than none, that’s the call that the government took,” he said.
Earlier in his comments, Johan also said: “Perhaps the perimeters can be adjusted over time.”
He pointed out that there was a proposal earlier on for the RON95 subsidy to be targeted and exclude the T15 group, similar to how the government’s subsidy rationalisation for electricity had affected the top 15 per cent household users of electricity but helped maintain electricity tariffs for the other 85 per cent of households.
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