Tabung Harapan Malaysia

Tabung Harapan Malaysia (Malay for "Malaysia's Hope Fund", Abbr.: THM) is a fund launched by the returned seventh Malaysian Prime Minister of the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, Mahathir Mohamad on 30 May 2018.[1][2] The purpose of the fund is a platform for the people to help the country and to receive the people's donations to strengthen the government's finances.[3][4] The establishment of the fund was made after seeing the willingness of the people to donate to the new government to settle the country's national debt amounting to more than RM1 trillion derived after taking over the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration led by Najib Razak on the 9 May 2018 general election.[5][6]

Tabung Harapan Malaysia
Formation30 May 2018
Dissolved14 January 2019
TypeGovernment fund
PurposeTo receive the people's donation to help government pay the country's debt
HeadquartersPutrajaya, Malaysia
FieldsFinance
Key people
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng
Parent organization
Ministry of Finance
Revenue
MYR 205,491,219

THM was supposed to be closed on 31 December 2018 but was finally extended to 14 January 2019 after Cabinet of Malaysia agreed to prolong the campaign for contributions for two more weeks.[7]

As of 31 March 2019, THM has earned a sum of RM203,292,117.41 or about RM203.29 million, including interest received from fixed deposit investments amounted to RM575,342.31 up to 31 March.[8] Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng announced the whole funds will be used to settle a portion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) 2019 debt amounting to RM1.7bil. He also stressed while it may not be able to repay 1MDB's entire debt of RM51bil, the fund serves as a symbol of Malaysians' loyalty and patriotism, when it comes to helping to repay the country's debt.[9]

Lim had announced the last total collection of THM which stood at RM205,491,219, including interest was earned from the trust account where the donation was deposited, has been fully utilised to pay off the 1MDB debts on 30 November 2019.[10][11]

Issue

The Malaysian opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister of BN, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi accuses the government of taking a populist approach by launching THM.[12] He slammed the PH government’s decision to launch THM, by saying that the government should not burden the people to donate funds in order to help it meet its debt obligations.[13]

References
  1. "Siaran Media: Penubuhan Tabung Harapan Malaysia". Ministry of Finance. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  2. Pui Fun (30 May 2018). "Here's How You Can Donate to Tabung Harapan Malaysia, the Official Govt Fund". World of Buzz. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  3. "Malaysia sets up fund for public donations to reduce national debt". Channel News Asia. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  4. Azura Abas (25 June 2018). "Tabung Harapan breaches RM100 million level". The New Straits Times. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  5. "Malaysian minister confirms central bank, Khazanah funds used for 1MDB payments". Channel News Asia. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  6. "Malaysia to close Hope Fund for national debt after raising RM199m". Channel News Asia. 24 December 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  7. Azura Abas (7 February 2019). "Tabung Harapan account closes with over RM202 million". The New Straits Times. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  8. "Tabung Harapan funds to repay portion of 1MDB's debt". Bernama. The Star Online. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  9. Arjuna Chandran Shankar (16 May 2019). "Guan Eng: Tabung Harapan funds to repay a portion of 1MDB's RM51b debt". The Edge Markets. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  10. "Last of Tabung Harapan donations used, says Guan Eng". Free Malaysia Today. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  11. Petah Wazzan Iskandar (30 November 2019). "Tabung Harapan Malaysia donations used to pay-off 1MDB debts". New Straits Times. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  12. Zainudin, Faiz (19 July 2018). "Zahid: Don't burden the people with national debt payments". Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  13. "Zahid: Don't burden the people with national debt payments". The World News. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.


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