KUALA LUMPUR, 22 September 2025 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has pledged that the government’s savings from more precisely targeted subsidy programmes will be reinvested into essential public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Speaking at the monthly assembly at the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya, he emphasised that the recent subsidy reforms are not merely cost-cutting exercises but are intended to benefit Malaysians across sectors.
According to Anwar, altering the diesel subsidy scheme has freed up financial resources that have enabled the introduction of the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) aid initiative, under which eligible citizens receive RM100 each. He noted that while the payout per person may seem modest, the overall fiscal impact of SARA is substantial, amounting to RM2 billion, made possible only because the government first moved to re-target subsidies on diesel.
The savings from adjustments to RON95 fuel subsidies, which included differentiating the rate for non-citizens versus citizens, are also being repurposed, Anwar said. He described plans for the funds to help rebuild public infrastructure badly damaged in the recent Sabah floods: among the priority reconstruction projects are the Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Gaya, as well as slopes, clinics, and schools that were severely affected. The Prime Minister stressed that these moves reflect the government’s commitment to using every ringgit saved through subsidy rationalization to uplift communities and restore essential services.
