BSH was most trending search for M’sians
Published on: Wednesday, January 01, 2020
By: Ricardo Unto
KOTA KINABALU: The Household Living Aid (BSH) cash aid scheme emerged as the most trending searches in Sabah, this year.
According to this year’s collective Google search data summary, the query search for BSH peaked between May 26 and June 1 – around the time when the aid’s second phase payment was disbursed to its recipients.
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The second phase involved nearly 3.6 million recipients nationwide with an expected allocation of RM1.42 billion.
The payment would be credited directly to the recipients’ bank accounts while for those who did not have an bank account, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) would open an account for the applicants automatically as per agreed by the applicants on their application forms.
Federal Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was reported as saying that the aid would only be given to fully qualified recipients under the specified income category.
He was also quoted as saying that the Federal Finance Ministry through the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will review BSH’s applications, including the current recipient’s information to ensure that the submitted information is accurate.
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The verification process, he said, was comprehensive, especially in identifying the latest income of applicants by reviewing data from various agencies.
These agencies include the National Registration Department (NRD), IRB, Accountant General’s Department of Malaysia, Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Pensions Trust Fund (KWAP), Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), and other relevant agencies.
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Meanwhile, in national-level, taking the top spot this year in trending searches is “Earth Day Quiz” – a fun quiz by Google coinciding with Earth Day that assigns quiz-takers an animal they are most like based on their responses to a series of questions.
The number one trending individual nationwide went to Indonesian actress and songstress Vanessa Angel who came into the limelight from a recent scandal.
Google Trends data indicated that searches for Vanessa spiked in January, this year.
This was perhaps due to news reports that the 27-year-old celebrity had been caught for allegedly being involved in an online prostitution scheme.
It was reported that she was arrested in a hotel room in Surabaya, Indonesia where she charged her clients about RM23,700 for her services.
Vanessa was then jailed on Jan 31 and in June, it was reported that she was sentenced to five months in jail for the online distribution of inappropriate content related to the prostitution services she was offering.
She has since been released from prison.
Google, recently, released its annual Malaysian Year in Search, a look back at 12 months of collective trending searches on Google Malaysia to shed light on the unique trending searches of 2019.
Google Malaysia Communications Manager of Consumer Products Nadia Khan said, Malaysians continue to turn to ‘Search’ for some of their most pressing questions.
“Just as how it helps us explore and discover a world of information, ‘Search’ also gave us many ways to learn more about the past year,” she said.
“The Year in Search reflects topics that are truly unique to 2019, and it encapsulates Malaysians’ collective imagination to form a montage of what were top of mind for all of us.”
Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
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