Posts share false claim about 'financial assistance for Malaysian housewives'

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on March 30, 2023 at 04:11
  • Updated on March 30, 2023 at 04:31
  • 2 min read
  • By Syafique SHUIB, AFP Malaysia

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A false claim that Malaysian housewives are entitled to a cash handout of 480 Malaysian ringgit ($108) has been shared repeatedly on social media. While some of the posts sharing the claim make reference to a real scheme where the government would deposit money into eligible housewives' provident accounts to encourage them to make more voluntary contributions, the scheme required them to make payments before the money would be disbursed and it was not made as a cash payment. The body responsible for managing Malaysia's provident fund system also told AFP in late March 2023 that the incentive scheme had been suspended "until further notice".

The video was shared here on TikTok on February 11, 2023, where it has been viewed more than 632,000 times.

The 15-second video shows an image of a woman and two children, with Malay text that says: "Application for RM480 assistance for housewives" -- which is equivalent of $108.

The picture also has the Malaysian coat of arms and the logo of "Malaysia Madani" (Civil Malaysia) -- Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's policy framework.

The Malay-language sticker text reads: "Assistance for housewives 2023", while the caption repeats what is said in the video.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on March 27, 2023

The claim was also shared elsewhere on TikTok here and here, racking up more than 372,000 times.

A similar claim was shared on Facebook here, here and here.

Some of the misleading posts share links to blog articles about the purported assistance, such as this, this and this.

However, the Malaysian government has said it has not offered such aid.

'Fake news'

The Malaysian finance ministry called the claim in the TikTok post "fake news" on Facebook on March 2, 2023.

"Fake News! The Ministry of Finance (MOF) would like to emphasise that there is no assistance for housewives of RM480 that has been shared on Tiktok," the ministry said on its Facebook page.

It includes the screengrab of the misleading post, with a red stamp that reads: "FAKE" in Malay.

The same image was reposted by the Ministry of Communications and Digital on the same day with the same clarification.

Although all the headlines of the blog articles suggest that the "aid is for housewives", the content mentions "i-Suri", part of Malaysia's retirement saving scheme Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

Insentif Suri, or i-Suri, was launched in August 2018, during the administration of then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. It was an initiative of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar's wife, who at that time served as deputy prime minister and minister of women, family and community development.

While workers and companies are required to contribute to the EPF monthly, the i-Suri programme encouraged housewives and single mothers included in the government's National Database on Poverty to make voluntary contributions to their own EPF accounts.

According to the EPF's website, the government would deposit 40 Malaysian ringgit ($9) into the EPF accounts of those that had signed up for i-Suri and contributed at least five Malaysian ringgit ($1.15) monthly.

However, on March 24, 2023, the EPF told AFP that the i-Suri programme had been suspended "until further notice".

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