Anwar’s cancelling B40. Here’s what he’s replacing it with

If we could have it our way, we’d bestow Najib with the title of Bapa Generosity, cos he sure left us with a ton of things during his tenure as PM. Like who can forget all those great Super Ring memes or that massive skyscraper at TRX? And let’s not even mention the gargantuan RM 1MDB debt he left for every Malaysian and their cucu-cicits…

Sad to say though, the one thing he won’t leaving behind anymore is the B40, M40, T20 classification.

On a surface level, you gotta admit that the B40, M40, T20 concept is a genius way to simplify this whole rich and poor situation among Malaysians. It’s catchy, straightforward, and it genuinely stuck to the point people have started referring to themselves as B40 and whatnot. But if you really really think about it… not everyone can grasp what a B40 means, other than being dirt poor.

In fact, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli himself pointed out that the current system is oversimplified and has led to a lot of exclusion in terms of financial aid, which is why they’re changing things up. Well guys, it’s time to say goodbye to B40, M40, T20 and say hello to its replacement– the PADU database. As the name suggests…

PADU database will be the one stop centre for all integrated data on the rakyat

You guys know how exam banks work, right? They sorta store all past year questions in a single convenient place for easy access and reference. Well, PADU is pretty much a super-sized version of that. It’s essentially gonna serve as our national database– one that compiles all necessary info on the rakyat and ultimately optimize the whole aid distribution process.

In fact, in true Anwar fashion, our PM has mentioned several times now the importance of having these numbers, since the government could potentially be wasting their money on the wrong group of people.

“We found that the information and data we have are so incomplete that we cannot formulate good policies or make good plans for the public. When the data is incomplete, it would result in wastage (of government resources),” — Anwar Ibrahim, via Malay Mail

Well, credit where credit’s due. Anwar’s right that having a repository like this is necessary in making well-informed decisions, more so since it directly affects the rakyat’s welfare. It’s just that they seem to have left out a teeny tiny 🤏🏼 detail in their grand plan– yeeeeah we still don’t know who actually qualifies for this financial assistance since the government hasn’t decided on those numbers yet. What we do know however, is that…

Rather than how much you can EARN, it’s now about how much you can SPEND

So to recap– with the previous system, all the poor B40s would obviously get more financial help from the government compared to M40s or T20s. Well, things are gonna be different now, and the wealthy T20s might receive similar if not more help than the B40s. And that’s cos the aid will no longer be determined solely by income, but rather by net spendable income.

In non economic terms, that means the aid you get will depend on how much money you have left after paying your rent, your electricity, your water, your phone bill… you get the idea lah. And just to be clear, no, it will not take into account the money you spent on the cute blouse you saw at Gucci or that limited edition golf set you got on a whim.

Now if you’re not super sold on that idea, here’s a guy’s account of barely making ends meet with his RM 5k salary. Technically, his income would put him within the comfy realms of M40 and outside financial aid. But in the breakdown of his expenses, you’ll see that he ends up with only RM 500 to survive the month. Eeeep, even students get more allowance than that 😓

And this is where the new system sorta shines, cos it’s not his RM 5k that matters, rather the RM 500 he has leftover. And while this whole thing may seem like a godsend for those juggling lots of financial responsibilities, we can’t help but point out a rather problematic loophole…

Families who aren’t financially ready to have more kids might try to exploit the new system

Orrite, it’s like this: if you know that fulfilling a simple condition can get you more money, you’d probably go for it, right? And that’s the catch with our new system. It means that people who are less financially abled can very easily benefit off the government’s help, cos all they have to do is have more children. And just so you know we’re not talking out of our asses with this hypothetical situation, Rafizi himself highlighted it as an advantage.

“There are people who may have a monthly household income of RM 10,500 but live in the Klang Valley and have five children. If you take into consideration all their commitments, their net income may be the same as those in the B40 group. Under the previous approach, they would be cut off from any assistance,” — Rafizi Ramli via The Star

So yeah, it kinda raises questions about the fairness and effectiveness of the system, which is a bit of an irony considering that was the very thing they wanted to address when they decided to bin Najib’s old one.

As of now though, Rafizi did point out that they’re still ironing out the details of this new system. So it’ll be interesting to see how they address and resolve this issue, and whether or not in the long run, it turns out better than Najib’s B40, M40, T20 approach.