KUALA LUMPUR: The World Bank’s recognition of direct financial aid was one the reasons why Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad performed a U-turn on his stand against the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Najib said the former prime minister’s act of backpedaling on his stance against BR1M was also due to the latter’s realisation that the financial aid had brought benefit to the people.
The prime minister, in a statement published on his website today, cited four main reasons why the former prime minister chose to make a major about-turn on the issue.
“Firstly, he (Dr Mahathir) is aware of the study conducted by World Bank and Stanford researchers, which proved that direct financial aids are usually spent prudently and for the welfare of the (receivers’) families.”
Najib said the study also proved that the receivers of financial aids were not lazy, as previously claimed by Dr Mahathir.
“Secondly, financial aid like BR1M are given out in countries around the world, and they are recognised by economists as a catalyst for economic growth.
“Thirdly, the opposition friends of this senior leader (Dr Mahathir) have implemented aid (programmes) similar to BR1M,” said Najib in the statement.
He said Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had given school-going children in the state money to pay for their school entrance fees, while Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had given financial aid to the poor in the island state.
“Fourthly, BR1M is given to the low-income group regardless of (their) political ideology. We didn’t ask them to vote for Barisan Nasional, unlike Azmin Ali’s coupons, which feature his face.
“In fact, the Selangor government has given out many monetary incentives (to the people).”
Najib said, based on these reasons alone, Dr Mahathir had no choice but to make a U-turn on his stand against BR1M, and noted that this was not the first time the latter had made a U-turn.