PUTRAJAYA, May 26 — Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan today said that the government’s move to stop several subsidies for the top earners in Malaysia was an attempt to rectify its past policy mistakes.

Speaking to reporters at the launch of Malaysia’s Sustainable Investing Standards (SIS) document, Ahmad Maslan said that the current government was one that was responsible and did not want to just be popular.

"I can say that the policy of giving blanket subsidies was a policy mistake.

"Everyone would agree that the poor would need more subsidies than the rich. But in Malaysia the rich have been getting more than the poor,” he said at the Ministry of Finance here.

This comes after the government earlier this month announced that the top 20 per cent of earners, known as the T20, will soon stop getting subsidies for fuel, electricity and the Haj pilgrimage.

To note, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli announced last Friday that the government is planning to move away from using the B40 (bottom 40 per cent), M40 (middle 40 per cent) and T20 income classifications to make decisions on matters such as subsidies.

Rafizi said that the government will instead be implementing a metric using "household net disposable income”.