（SHAHNAZ FAZLIE/Pejabat Perdana Menteri.）
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has warned managers of public funds, including those administered by TEKUN Nasional, Bank Rakyat and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), that they will face arrest and prosecution if they abuse their positions of trust.
He stressed that funds managed by these financing agencies must be protected and administered responsibly, adding that financial expertise must go hand in hand with integrity and accountability.
"I am issuing a warning, and Steven Sim knows this. Every fund, whether TEKUN, Bank Rakyat or Amanah Ikhtiar, must be properly managed. This is money held in trust. If you breach that trust, you will be arrested and charged. Only then can we safeguard the country," he said.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 2026 National Hawkers and Small Traders Day Carnival in Kajang.
He attributed the government's ability to increase allocations for public assistance, despite lower tax revenue and national income, to efforts to eliminate leakages, embezzlement and corruption.
"Some people question this, sometimes on social media. They ask how allocations can increase when taxes and national revenue are lower. It is because there is no leakage, no embezzlement and no corruption. God willing, there will be blessings, and we can help the people. That is our purpose," he said.
Among the allocations he highlighted were RM18 billion to finance salary increases for civil servants and RM16 billion for the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) and Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) assistance programmes.
However, Anwar acknowledged that existing government assistance was still insufficient to meet all public needs and said support would be expanded progressively.
He also dismissed claims that Kelantan had been neglected, emphasising that political differences should not stand in the way of efforts to assist the people.
He said assistance to religious schools was reinstated in 2022, followed by financial incentives for religious teachers in 2023 and repair works on several severely dilapidated buildings in 2024.
"When we took over in 2022, we felt this was not a fair system. We said we wanted to look after the people, so we reinstated the assistance in 2022," Buletin TV3 quoted him as saying.
Anwar said continued support for religious schools, together with assistance to households through STR and SARA, demonstrated the government's efforts to ease the financial burden on the public.
Also present were Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister Steven Sim, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, and Media Prima Berhad chairman and AIM Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Seri Dr Syed Hussian Syed Junid.
