Fazzrudin: Budget 2022 sensitive to current need of the people

Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman

KUCHING (Oct 30): The Budget 2022 announced yesterday is a people-friendly budget and sensitive to the current needs of the people, as the nation moves into the Covid-19 endemic phase and returning to normalcy, said Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman.

Recognising this need, he added that the federal government has created the Malaysian Family Student Device initiative to supply a tablet to every B40 student in higher learning institutions.

“The government has also provided an allocation of RM450 million in addition to the commitment of telecommunication companies which also contributed about RM65 million for this purpose.

“This initiative will benefit a total of 600,000 students from B40 families and solve the problem of lack of access to devices among the less fortunate for the purpose of following Teaching and Learning at Home (PdPR),” he said in a statement yesterday.

With this initiative, Fazzrudin hoped that it would solve the problem of ‘lost learning generation’ which consists of the now increasing B40 group due to lack of access to devices and the internet.

Meanwhile, he also welcomed the federal government’s announcement to provide a discount for the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers for full settlement from Nov 1 this year to April 30, 2022.

With this initiative, he noted that a 15 per cent discount would be given on the outstanding balance for full settlement of the loan; while a 12 per cent discount would be given to borrowers who have settled at least 50 per cent of the loan, and a 10 per cent discount to borrowers who pay through salary deduction or direct debit according to schedule.

“Through this method, it can cultivate a culture of paying PTPTN debts among borrowers and also can ensure that the fund is always continuous for new borrowers in the future,” said Fazzrudin.

He also expressed his gratitude to the federal government for increasing the allocation of development expenditure to Sarawak to implement water, electricity, and road infrastructure projects, as well as education and health facilities.

“It is hoped that the commitment of the federal government to develop the state will continue and more allocations can be given for development projects in the future,” he said.

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