KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 30 -- The government's new Budi Madani RON95(Budi95) initiative has recorded RM43.7 million in purchases, covering 21.8 million litres of RON95 petrol, as of 7pm yesterday.

Senior press secretary to the prime minister, Tunku Nashrul Abaidah, said nearly 912,000 recipients of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR), along with members of the armed forces and police, had carried out transactions nationwide under the scheme.

"The programme, which began on Sept 27 for 300,000 armed forces and police personnel, was extended to 5 million STR recipients on Sept 28.

"From midnight Sept 30, it has been expanded to cover 16 million eligible Malaysians," he said during the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) daily briefing, which was broad...