This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 31, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A government backbencher has called on Putrajaya to implement the conditional cashless subsidy system on a bigger scale throughout the country to improve Malaysia’s social aid system.

Nurul Izzah Anwar (Pakatan Harapan-Permatang Pauh) said she hopes the government could replicate MyKasih Foundation’s model of helping the needy.

“During my time in Lembah Pantai [here], and hopefully the same would happen now in Permatang Pauh, we collaborated with MyKasih which implemented a very efficient cashless subsidy system,” she said.

“Imagine, throughout the country every citizen who needs help is able to get the government’s social aid without involving any politician,” she added when debating on the motion of thanks for the royal address at the Dewan Rakyat.

Nurul Izzah said ideally, the social aid is disbursed through MyKad to buy groceries, on the condition that kids have to go to school and where mothers learn financial literacy from Bank Negara Malaysia.

MyKasih provides various aids to those in need, from food to skills training and youth development.