KUCHING: The 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) 3.0 will be launched at the state and parliamentary constituency levels on Feb 23, a day after the federal level launch, said Women, Welfare and Family Development Ministry permanent secretary Rodziah Morshidi yesterday.

“For qualified recipients with bank accounts, the aid will be banked in, but for those without bank accounts, other methods will be utilised to distribute the aid to them,” she told reporters during a press conference following a courtesy call by Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Datuk James Chan, councillors and community leaders to Women, Welfare and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah yesterday morning.

The ministry will distribute the aid from Feb 23 until Mar 15.

Rodziah noted that in Sarawak, from the 594,765 recipients listed so far for this year, more than half or 332,054 do not have bank accounts, especially those in rural areas.

“We have been given to understand from the federal government that officers will be sent to the various divisions for aid presentation ceremonies at that level, before arranging for distribution to the villages depending on the methods thought best by the Resident’s and District offices. We have to reach out to as many as possible,” she explained, replying to a question on how aid for those without bank accounts would be distributed.

Noting that this is the first year that the ministry has been asked to coordinate the aid distribution in the state, Fatimah confirmed that the list of recipients has not been finalised, thus the total number of recipients is subject to change.

“Additional details including the final number of recipients as well as total sum to be distributed will be released at a later date once the ministry has received the information,” she said.

Fatimah also said banking-in the money directly into the accounts would lessen the risk of overcrowding at the BR1M distribution centres and reduce the risk of unwanted incidences that may endanger public
safety.

A Bernama report yesterday cited Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as saying through his Facebook page that BR1M 3.0 would be credited directly into the accounts of recipients on Feb 22 and that applicants who did not have bank accounts or did not update their banking details would receive their payments in stages from Feb 23.

The report added that registration of new BR1M applicants closed on Jan 31 while existing recipients did not need to furnish new applications, only to update their personal details such as address, family member information and bank accounts.