Ex-TI head claims ‘wang ehsan’ pales to micro-credit
By Neville Spykerman, The Malaysian Insider
The Federal government’s RM20 million “wang ehsan” payment to Kelantan came under further criticism following the Selangor government’s recent announcement of a RM50 million micro-credit scheme for the poor.
Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the goodwill payment — in place of oil royalties — is unlikely to win the Federal government any goodwill among the Kelantanese; instead, they should emulate Selangor by providing more equitable payments to Kelantan for their oil.
“The payment should be more equitable, otherwise the people in Kelantan are going to feel like they are getting a raw deal” said the economist and former Transparency International president
On Monday, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim announced that RM50 million will be made available for micro-credit loans to help the poor.
Navaratnam pointed out that if Selangor, which had limited means to raise funds, could still provide RM50 million to the poor, then the Federal government should be able to provide much more for Kelantan.
