SHAH ALAM, Sept 1 – Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said today that he supports the federal government’s decision to give out “duit raya” for civil servants but pointed out that the payment would cost more than RM900 million, which is more than the RM750 million the Najib administration had saved by cutting subsidies this year.

Although the Hari Raya bonus paid to civil servants was not new, Khalid questioned the timing and the federal government’s contradicting actions.

“The federal government’s reason was that the subsidy was ineffective. Those benefiting from the subsidies are from the affluent class as well,” he said.

He pointed out what he claimed was the contradiction in the federal government’s contention that it did not want to benefit the rich and wanted to focus on the poor.

“Now you’re giving out RM500 to every civil servant across the board, as far as I know,” he said, adding that the bonus was given out even to high-ranking officials.

He added that at least the subsidy benefited the poor while the “duit raya” was being given out to people with jobs and pensions.

Khalid suspected that the reason behind the federal government’s decision to pay out “duit raya” was because of a similar decision by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state governments in Penang and Selangor.

“Penang and Selangor gave (the bonuses) because of good governance which had resulted in a surplus in their budget and because of a more efficient management,” he said, adding that even the federal government had admitted to continuous deficit and had to resort to subsidy cuts.