Letters - Give credit where credit is due

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement that BR1M is a form of bribery is far-fetched. What constitutes a bribe? Both the giver and the taker must benefit in the illicit transaction.
The BR1M transaction cannot be said to be illicit as it is the people's money being returned to the people. If it were a bribe, the giver must benefit as well.
He states it is a scheme to buy votes. If this were true then the opposition would have had zero returns.
I reside in Seremban and have noticed that the BR1M applicants came in droves to collect their dues but voted in an opposition MP. It is clear that BR1M application has nothing to do with the elections. The electorate is not that naive to consider BR1M as a voter bait.
Tun had been the prime minister for more than two decades. Surely he must have grasped the meaning of corruption by now.
He goes on to say that during his tenure, he did not give handouts but took care of people's welfare by building good roads, giving allocations to schools and providing scholarships.
These are routine duties of an elected government and nothing to crow about. The present government is also attending to these core issues. Although I do not agree with some of its policies one must give credit where credit is due. Many infrastructure projects have been carried out creating thousands of jobs.
Tun appears to be so paranoid about the present government that he chooses to condemn it at every turn.
BR1M is helpful to the low- and middle-income groups to mitigate their hardship.
Dr A. Soorian
Seremban