The Compassionate Budget (ii)

Pensioners And Senior Citizen

*  Increased minimum pension from RM720 to RM820  -- benefiting 50,371 civil pensioners.

*  Senior citizen will benefit 50% discount on passport processing fee.  Processing fee for RM300 will be at RM150 and RM100 will be at RM80.

*  'One-off' assistance of RM1,000 for former members of the armed forces who have opted for early retirement and without pension -- benefit 224,000 former members.

*  One-off payment of RM1,000 for veterans who served for at least 21 years,  and did not receive any pension -- 224,000 will benefit.

Community

*  Six more Anjung Singgah (Temporary Shelter for the homeless) will be built including five in Sibu,  Miri,  Temerloh,  Seremban and Ipoh Hospital.

*  Grant of RM40 million for 4,025 residents association registered under Registry of Society Malaysia -  each association will receive RM10,000.

*  RM39 million allocated to finance 6,500 neighbourhoold watch (Rukun Tetangga) to safeguard the neighbourhood.

*  RM150 million allocation to establish 100 1Malaysia Internet Centres in indentified People's Housing Project (PPR).

*  123,000 units of affordable houses in strategic location with allocation of RM1.9 billion.

*  RM20 million allocation to establish additional 70 new 1Malaysia Clinics.

Small And Medium Enterprises (SME's)

*  Three years income tax exemption for tour operators who bring in at least 750 foreign tourists or handle 1,500 local tourists a year.

*  1.5 million hawkers and small businesses who are registered with Companies Commission of Malaysia will benefit from the Group Insurance Coverage Scheme -- Maximum coverage up to RM5,000.

*  Soft loans for hawkers and small businesses under Transformation Programme to support efforts to modernise their operations to achieve higher standard and competition.

*  Fund of RM1 billion to accelarate the SME's growth and expansion nationwide.

*  RM200 million for the Halal Industry Fund to finance the working capital of participating SME's.

*  RM1 billion as Bumiputera Financing Fund to assist local SME's to finance the acquisition of GLC subsidies engaged in non-core activities.

*  55,000 small entrepreneurs particularly women will benefit from Get Malaysian Business Online Programme to promote their businesses by increasing their sales online.

*  RM350 million will be allocated for Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (TEKUN) to give loan on facilities to small-scale entreprenerus,  including RM50 million to Malaysian-India entrepreneurs.

*  School bus operators will benefit -- RM10,000 cash rebate and two percent subsidy of interest rate for loan to change to a new bus.

Fishermen And Farmers

*  Living allowances of RM200 per month for 55,000 registered fishermen.

*  55,000 registered fishermen will receive incentive ranging from 10 to 20 sen per kilogram to encourage fish landings at licensed jetties nationwide.

*  Fishermen will get benefit from Fishermen Insurance Scheme with maximum coverage of RM100,000.

RM2.4 billion incentive and subsidies for padi production

>  Subsidy on padi price                                                      RM480 million

>  Padi fertilizers                                                                   RM465 million

>  Incentives to increase padi yield                                     RM 80 million

>  High-quality-padi seeds                                                   RM 85 million

>  Subsidy on price of rice                                                   RM528 million

>  Padi production                                                                RM563 million

*  Padi planters will get benefit from Padi Takaful Coverage Scheme -- Benefiting 172,000 padi farmers who own fields less than 10 hectare.

*  RM41 million will be allocated to the AZAM Tani project to benefit 6,730 participants.