Increase in price of goods: public understanding towards government subsidy rationalization / Muhammad Khalid Marzuki & Muhammad Haniff Rahmat Ali

This chapter focuses on the background of the study which is on the public understanding towards government subsidy rationalization. This chapter also will discuss on the problem statement, research questions, research’s objectives, scope of the study, significance of the study as well as the definition of terms or concepts. Increase in price of goods nowadays has brought dissatisfaction among the community in the whole nation. In order to ease the burden of the people in the country, Malaysia was one of the countries who have given the subsidy on certain of the goods in the market. We are to study either the public or the “rakyat” know about the subsidies that are given by the government. Malaysia as one of the top subsidized country around the world has launched to reduce subsidies to capture its development goals. (Saeed, Fatimah & Roza, 2013). Subsidy can be defined as a benefit given by the government to groups or individuals usually in the form of a cash payment or tax reduction. The subsidy is usually given to remove some type of burden and is often considered to be in the interest of the public (Investopedia, 2014). There are many forms of subsidies given out by the government, including welfare payments, housing loans, student loans and farm subsidies.