The Social & Economic Research Initiative (Seri) has put forward several recommendations to improve the implementation of Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara), following technical glitches that disrupted the programme’s rollout on its first day.
The one-off RM100 Sara aid — provided to all Malaysian adults aged 18 and above in conjunction with National Day 2025 — allows recipients to buy essential goods using their MyKad.
Local media reported overwhelming demand since its launch on Sunday (Aug 31), with more than RM50 million spent on the first day alone. However, the surge in transactions led to significant network slowdowns in several locations.
In a statement on Tuesday, Seri outlined the following measures:
- Staggered launches by state or ID number, with proper load-testing to prevent system overload.
- Public dashboards to track system uptime, incident reports, and recovery times, along with enforceable service-level objectives for providers.
- Retailer readiness, including onboarding small and community retailers — particularly in rural Sabah and Sarawak — supported with mobile point-of-sale (POS) kits.
- Clear branding and multilingual FAQs to ensure consistent communication nationwide.
- Fallback options such as secure e-vouchers during system outages.
- Stronger anti-scam measures, coordinated with telcos and online platforms.
- Independent post-mortems after each major rollout to identify weaknesses and strengthen future implementations.
The think tank praised the government’s commitment to easing household burdens but stressed that delivery must be reliable.
“Relief must feel reliable. When essential-goods aid fails at the checkout, good feelings turn sour — and trust suffers,” said Seri managing director Rashaad Ali.
Seri also highlighted key strengths to preserve, such as MyKad’s simple redemption process, broader item categories that reflect household needs, and a growing merchant network.
At the same time, it warned of challenges, including mixed public messaging around “Sara for all” versus targeted monthly aid, and a spike in scam links that caused confusion for beneficiaries and frontline staff.
“Digital social protection is the right direction,” Seri chairman Helmy Haja Mydin said. “But to make it durable, we must engineer trust by design: robust systems, transparent communication, strong merchant networks, and visible accountability.”
