Budi95: RM3.7 mil worth of RON95 petrol purchased on first day by PDRM/ATM personnel – Amir Hamzah

The roll-out of the Budi Madani RON 95 (Budi95) subsidy initiative began on Saturday, with members of the police and army being the first to enjoy the new subsidised price of RM1.99 per litre for the fuel.

According to finance minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, a total of RM3.7 million worth of RON 95 petrol had been purchased by noon the following day, with more than 90,000 PDRM and ATM members – out of over 300,000 eligible recipients in that group – being the first to benefit from the initiative.

On Sunday, Budi95 was expanded to over five million recipients of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) under the B40 category, Bernama reports. As of noon yesterday, over 200,000 STR recipients had used the facility. Full implementation begins tomorrow, September 30, covering 16 million Malaysians with MyKad and a valid driving licence.

Amir Hamzah said reports from the ground showed that Budi95 operations had been running smoothly, with the system stable and MyKad verification at petrol station terminals functioning properly. However, he acknowledged that there had been minor technical complaints, mainly involving inactive driving licences, unreadable MyKad chips and the use of old identity card numbers.

“To resolve these issues, we are working with government agencies such as the road transport department (JPJ) and national registration department (JPN), and they are ready to extend their operational support,” he said.

Separately, a briefing and demonstration event related to Budi95 was held at the Petron station in Taman Tun Ismail, Petaling Jaya for the press on Saturday morning. Present at the briefing was Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican, the secretary-general of the treasury, ministry of finance.

The exercise involved showing how the system worked at the pump or at the counter, with the addition of a simple and quick verification step in the process. If the recipient is eligible, the monthly usage balance display will be displayed and they can continue the payment and filling process. The receipt will also display usage information and the balance from the monthly 300 litre quota.

In addition to cash and using cards, Touch ‘n Go eWallet can also be used. However, for this option, users need to go to the counter and show the QR code that will be generated in the application to be scanned. The code cannot be scanning at the pump, due to security factors and the prohibition of using phones near the pump.

Johan said that in the event of unforeseen or emergency situations, when verification cannot be done, for example when the system or internet line in use for the system is not working or has an issue, the government had an agreement with operators where eligible users with MyKad will still be allowed to fill up with RON 95 petrol at subsidised prices. Every petrol station operator will have their own business continuity plan (BCP) for this purpose.

He added that the system for checking is centrally operated by the government, allowing top-ups to be made at any station or different operators, but subsidy records and usage balances will remain in sync.

For a complete explanation of how Budi95 works, read the FAQ detailing all the processes here.