Govt prepares insurance protection plan for poor households who lost their breadwinners

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it would involve about 268,000 poor families registered in eKasih.

"Each household will receive RM10,000 with an allocation of RM13.4 million a year," he said in a statement issued after chairing the Malaysia Social Protection Council (MySPC) meeting at the Parliament building here today.

Ismail Sabri said the meeting also agreed that the socio-economic level of Malaysian Family be increased by giving added value and focusing on the programmes to increase the income of the heads of households (KIR) of the poor and hardcore poor registered in eKasih.

He said the other thing that was agreed upon was to strengthen the social protection agenda up to the administrative district level through the State Social Protection Technical Committee (JTPSNg) to coordinate the Programme Mapping and Social Protection Profile Phase Two.

"Besides that, the meeting also agreed that the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) be given the responsibility to lead the Working Committee on Modernising Subsidies to Increase Productivity," said Ismail Sabri.

He said the measures decided in the meeting would help strengthen the social protection agenda to achieve the government's target of zero hardcore poor by 2025.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has made all parties aware of the weaknesses of the social protection system in most countries around the world, including Malaysia.

"Therefore, the government through the Malaysia Social Protection Council has identified a social protection mechanism that is more dynamic, flexible and able to respond to any risks faced by members of the Malaysian Family," he said.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri launched the Social Protection Database (PDPS) Phase 1: Social Assistance (Federal) which is a single gateway and the main reference for social protection programmes.

It involves 167 programmes by 17 ministries or agencies comprising 13.7 million beneficiary profile data up to 2020.

"Full access of this system will be made available to the public and all stakeholders once the Social Insurance and Labor Market Intervention Module is completed after 2023," he said.