LANGKAWI — Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday (Nov 25) said the country’s economy would soon be overtaken by its poorer neighbours because Malaysians would rather look for handouts than work hard.

Dr Mahathir said many Malaysians have become dependent on financial handouts like the Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) of the previous Barisan Nasional government.

“We bring in foreign workers to do the jobs Malaysians do not want to do.

“The government collects taxes and levies from these foreign workers only to give to these Malaysians who think they have disabilities as financial assistance,” he said when opening Dash Resort in Langkawi on Sunday.

Dr Mahathir predicted that fellow Southeast Asian country Vietnam, which had been ravaged by war, would soon overtake Malaysia in the economic ranking because they have a lot of hardworking people.

“Vietnam will pull ahead of Malaysia because its people are very diligent.

“In Malaysia, people don’t want to work because the government gives them money.”

Earlier in August this year, the government began weaning the people off BR1M by reducing the aid amount before stopping it altogether.

The BR1M was started by the administration of former prime minister Najib Razak in 2012 ostensibly to assist people in the lower income groups.

When tabling the 2019 national budget, Pakatan Harapan announced a living allowance assistance of RM5 billion (S$1.64 billion) for 4.1 million households.

The amount is lower than the RM6.8 billion allocated by the BN to BR1M for distribution to 7.2 million recipients.

Earlier in his address, the prime minister also said the government should not be doing any commercial activities and should leave the business of doing business to the private sector.

He said the primary duty of the government is to pass laws and enforce them.

“The government has no expertise to do business and we will lose money. The private sector knows better how to make money. They have the ideas,” Dr Mahathir said.

He said the government would not make it difficult for them to do business because at the end of the day, “we will get 36% of what you make”.

“That’s why we want people to be successful in business. We do not invest a single sen but we get 36% in return.” THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT