No one gets left behind. That was, at least, the initial promise by our new-old Perikatan Nasional government. And for the most part, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Prihatin RM250 billion PRIHATIN economic stimulus package which he announced on Friday, appears to be on track to achieving that.

In terms of deets, the benefits – from free internet access until the end of the Movement Control Order (MCO), a salary payment scheme, to the exemption of rent payments for public housing and a moratorium on bank loans for six months – are indeed many. (You, can check out the full list here.)

However, what’s most important to know, apart from who qualifies for what, is that firstly, the announced measures do appear to be geared towards really helping low- and middle-income earners deal with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. And secondly, the government isn’t coughing up RM250 billion to do all this.

Yes, we know. It’s confusing, and we were scratching our heads for a while too wondering if some financial genius like Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had suddenly found RM250 billion in loose change in a hidden drawer somewhere. In a nutshell, the bottom line is that the payout (or “direct fiscal injection,” if you wanna be fancy) is only RM25 billion. The RM250 billion figure is the total value that will result from people, for example, spending their handouts on groceries, and grocers, in turn, then making purchases from wholesalers, and wholesalers ordering stuff from factories and so on. It is the maximum projection of expenses.

Also, in case you were wondering, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz says the dough to do all this will be obtained through borrowings as well as from the government’s coffers. (The government could also probably lean on Petronas, which some economists had previously suggested it do. However, considering the steep dip in oil prices globally, perhaps that’s not such a hot idea.)

Anyhoo, regardless of how good the package appeared to folks watching Moo’s address last Friday and despite even the likes of PSM’s Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj giving it the thumbs up, not everyone was happy. And among the many critics, was the SME Association of Malaysia, which lamented that while the stimulus appeared to be good for the rakyat, small and medium enterprises (the SMEs) wouldn’t benefit much.

The association’s argument, as far as we can tell, is while some relief is being offered to help ensure workers aren’t let go or salaries slashed (such as the three-month salary subsidy scheme), the cash will not be enough to prevent a majority of SMEs from folding in a couple of months. Is the association correct? We don’t really know, to be honest, but if it is, then stimulus package or not, we could be seeing millions upon millions of Malaysians out of work before too long.

Another fellow, meanwhile, who had issues with Moo’s package was PM-no-longer-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim, who said the measures should have first been debated in Parliament. Yes lah, sir, we know, like in certain other countries, the proper thing to have been done would be to discuss this in the Dewan Rakyat. Thing is, you do remember Parliament’s only meeting in May, right? Special sitting? Yeah, okay. But that might still take too long, no?

Still, to be fair to Anwar, the package isn’t perfect, and more time and constructive debate might have managed to plug some of the holes (the EPF withdrawal option, which we highlighted last week, for example, is still there).

However, by and large, it appears that for the time being at least, the now popular Makcik Kiah – the goreng pisang aunty whom Moo highlighted in his speech and who may or may not be a figment of his imagination – may just be able to cope thanks to the benefits in the stimulus package. Remember, these are stopgap measures to help the rakyat and businesses keep afloat as Malaysia, nay, the world, grapples with the health and economic ramifications of the coronavirus crisis.

Oh, and BTW, we do feel that that last bit of Moo’s speech on Friday where he talked about being at war with invisible forces and sorta pilfered Jim Gordon’s lines from The Dark Knight about being the hero Malaysia needs right now was pretty damn Oscar-worthy.