Economic recovery success, political stability due to federal-state govts close cooperation - PM

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the close cooperation was to ensure that no one would be left out towards narrowing the income gap and eradicating poverty.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on the daily life of the Malaysian Family but the government has never been negligent in providing aid financially and socially, as well as employment opportunities."

He said this in his speech at the launching of the Jelajah Aspirasi Keluarga Malaysia (AKM) at Dataran Angsana, here, today with Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad also present.

In assisting the Malaysian Family, the prime minister said the government had undertaken various initiatives such as the Perlindungan Tenang Voucher, One Family One House and Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST) programmes, besides providing affordable homes and wireless broadband.

Besides the SBST which was expected to benefit 6.4 million passengers per year, the prime minister said the government had allocated RM150 million to implement the myBAS service.

Referring to the public bus services in Johor, he said that beginning in March, 128 myBAS units have been plying 19 routes in five corridors, namely, Kota Tinggi, Masai, Kulai, Gelang Patah and Pontian with a distance of 1,052 kilometres.

"The government also offers a rebate of 50 per cent or RM150 for the purchase of a Keluarga Malaysia child safety car seat (MyCRS) for private cars of the B40 group.

"Realising the importance of digitalisation in easing the daily affairs of the Malaysian Family, a number of strategies and initiatives have been drawn up and being implemented by some of the ministries, for example, the Clinic Appointment System (SJTK) at the health clinics.

"This is to give the people, the opportunity to choose a suitable appointment slot without being present at the health premises," he said.

Realising the importance of Internet access, Ismail Sabri said the government was committed to improving wireless broadband service by implementing 5G for quality and faster online communication.

"To enhance the Internet service, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry has also taken the initiative of monitoring the wireless broadband service quality nationwide within a period of six months with the pioneer project starting in Johor, involving 3,000 locations," he added.

On the economy, Ismail Sabri said the government would ensure that with regard to foreign direct investment (FDI), the relevant agencies would be implementing the programmes towards easing business operations in the country.

On the floods that hit several areas in the country including Johor early this year, he said the government had allocated over RM1.4 billion to lighten the burden of the victims my maintaining the aid of up to RM10,000 for each affected household head through the Malaysian Family Flood Assistance,

The prime minister also expressed his appreciation to the Johor state government led by Hasni, for providing additional aid of RM500 for each affected family.

"I believe that such a synergy shows how important is the well-being of the Malaysian Family," he said.

Ismail Sabri said various initiatives had been implemented to assist the Malaysian Family affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which included the Wage Subsidy, PenjanaKerjaya, SULUNG and Young Employable Student (YES!) programmes, MyFutureJobs portal, and Malaysian Family Job Guarantee and Semarak Niaga Keluarga Malaysia (SemarakNiaga) initiatives, all worth a total of RM40 billion to assist the business sector to rise again.

"The Malaysian Family Job Guarantee initiative, recently launched by the government, has the objective of reducing the unemployment rate to below 4.2 per cent by providing 600,000 job opportunities and involving an allocation of RM4.8 billion, in line with one of the main thrusts under Budget 2022," said.

The AKM tour programme was a continuation of the successful100-Day AKM event held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre last December with the concept of providing direct services to the public.

The Jelajah AKM in Johor which started last Thursday and ended today, featured various activities including the Malaysian Family Job Guarantee and Citarasa Keluarga Malaysia programmes, sales, entrepreneur stalls and sports such as e-sports and sukan rakyat.