GTP Exceeds Its Target - Malaysia PM

BATU PAHAT (Johor, Malaysia), April 7 (Bernama) -- The Government Transformation Programme(GTP) which was launched three years ago has exceeded its target, said Prime Minister Najib Razak. He said the GTP, which was supervised by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, was formulated based on the needs and aspirations of the people. "During the three years since the launching of the Government Transformation Programme, its achievement has exceeded the target stipulated. Imagine that it was only three years ago (since its launch), if it had been five years ago, we could achieve even more," he said at the Batu Pahat Stadium today. He said this when addressing about 50,000 people at the launching of the 'Promises Are Kept Tour' programme organised by Media Prima Berhad Group. Also present at the programme were the Prime Minister's wife, Rosmah Mansor, Johor Chief Minister, Abdul Ghani Othman, cabinet ministers and deputy ministers as well as senior leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN). Najib, who is also the Finance Minister and Umno president, said that under the GTP, the government had succeeded in constructing 1,000km of rural roads from Perlis right up to Sabah. In addition, he said, the GTP had also achieved its objective in supplying electricity and water as well as houses which were now enjoyed by more than one million people under its target group. "In the field of education, the GTP has succeeded in building about 3,000 kindergarten classes nationwide besides increasing the number of high-performance schools," Najib said. Efforts to reduce the crime rate under the GTP had also shown encouraging results with the overall crime rate reduced by 39 per cent, the Prime Minister said. As for street crimes, Najib said the government had reduced the rate by 11.1 per cent. Under the GTP, the government had also taken various measures to bring down the cost of living borne by the people. He said one of the measures was the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) where the government had given the RM500 (US$163.08) aid to households earning below RM3,000 (US$978.47). "Four million households in the country received the BR1M facility," he said, adding that the government, under the GTP, also provided a book voucher of RM200 (US$65.23) to each student of tertiary institutions, as well as a schooling aid of RM100 (US$32.62) to primary and secondary school students. Najib said that under the GTP too, the government had set up the 1Malaysia People's Shop (KR1M) where the goods sold were 40 per cent lower than the market price as well as the 1Malaysia People's Menu (MR1M). The Prime Minister said that in efforts to ease the burden of the people, the government had not raised the price of RON95 petrol, besides providing subsidy for various commodities such as flour, sugar and cooking oil. "The government had spent RM30 billion (US$9.78 billion) for all the subsidies to ease the cost of living borne by the people and that is the government desired by the people," he said which was greeted with loud applause. -- BERNAMA