KUALA LUMPUR: The government has announced an additional RM300 one-off payment for all frontliners in the country, including the police and military officers.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the decision was made to include other frontliners, in addition to Health Ministry officers.
"The government recently announced a RM500 one-off payment for Health Ministry frontliners.
"After listening to the suggestions made by some Members of Parliament, the government has agreed to extend this assistance to all frontliners, where they will receive a one-off RM300 payment," he told the Dewan Rakyat in his winding-up speech on the Supply Bill (2021) today.
Fahmi Fadzil (Pakatan Harapan-Lembah Pantai) interjected and asked Zafrul to clarify who he was referring to when he said "frontliners".
"This is including the police, the army, Immigration, the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela), the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) – basically, all (agencies) certified by Nadma," Zafrul said.
When tabling the 2021 Budget on Nov 6, Zafrul said the government would provide a RM500 one-off payment to benefit some 100,000 Health Ministry frontliners as a mark of appreciation for their services.
According to Zafrul, the grant is in addition to their monthly RM600 Covid-19 Special Allowance given since March, and will continue until the pandemic threat is successfully overcome.