COMMENT | Budget 2026 cushions the poor, squeezes the middle

COMMENT | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Budget 2026, worth RM419.2 billion, is smaller than last year’s but is packed with handouts and cost-of-living measures.

It’s a budget that should keep everyone’s head above water during tough economic times, but in the end, many ordinary Malaysians feel as if they are merely treading water, instead of moving forward.

The usual questions accompanied the unveiling of the budget. “What’s in it for me?”, “Will I get anything out of it?”, “Will the poor get poorer, and the rich richer?”, “How will the middle class fare?”, “How will subsidies and food poverty levels affect me?”.

Malaysia’s 1.6 million civil servants are almost always treated differently from the remaining 31 million population. How could Anwar forget? He, more than anyone else, understands...