[即時新聞]180603-Malaysians give cash to help government

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Malaysians have helped their government with its money problems. They gave nearly $2 million to help the country with its national debt. Malaysia has a new party in power for the first time since the nation's independence in 1957. The new government promised to fix the problems left by the previous government. One of these problems was the huge national debt. Malaysia's current leaders say the previous government lost a lot of money. They now want to put that right. The government has used a new way of raising money. They decided to ask for help by using crowdfunding. This means setting up a special page on the Internet to raise cash. People can give money to the page using their credit card.

The amount the government has raised so far is very small compared to its multi-billion-dollar debt. The $2 million is just a drop in the ocean compared to the country's $251 billion debt. This is about 80 per cent of Malaysia's economic output. However, Malaysia's finance minister Lim Guan Eng said it was important to let people try to help the country. He said: "The people voluntarily want to share their earnings with the government to help ease the burden." The idea came from a 27-year-old Malaysian lady who said she was, "very much in love with and proud" of her country. She set up a private fundraising effort that very quickly attracted interest from like-minded people who also wanted to help.