Quite a number of the applicants have yet to receive aid under last year’s one-off Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance Package (BKSS) 7.0 last year, said Violet Yong Wui Wui (DAP-Pending).
“Around August last year, the Premier announced the special one-off financial assistance of RM10,000 to active registered businesses.
“He announced that no application was needed and that the money would be deposited directly into the accounts of approximately 40,000 active businesses in Sarawak registered with Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) as of March 31 last year.
“Sounds too good to be true, right? Unfortunately, it was proven so.”
Yong revealed this yesterday at the State Legislative Assembly.
“Because of the bureaucracy involved, there were several groups with different issues. There are some companies which received the emails but either could not get the documents ready on time or failed to submit the correct information and documents.
“There was another group who did not know that the emails were sent to them and thus, they totally missed the re-submission date. Then, there were some who were told they were not eligible after applying mid-way as their companies were registered less than three years.”
Yong said the conditions were never announced by the Premier and Economic Plan Unit (EPU) except for some fine prints found in a website without specifying the cut-off date for the three-year condition.
“My request is to let those who have already submitted their applications last year, regardless of receiving any emails or whether their companies were less than three years old, have the aid,” she said.
“As long as the companies are registered with SOCSO, they are eligible to receive the aid.
“There were no conditions attached during the announcement. If emails could be sent out in the first place to all the eligible recipients, then these companies were eligible to receive monetary assistance and should not be rejected based on incomplete submission of documents or that the companies were registered less than three years,” added Yong.
