Malaysia’s SARA programme sparked heavy use on launch day, pushing transactions past RM50 million as 850,000 recipients tapped into their RM100 credit as of 9.30 pm.

The scheme, introduced for more than 22 million adult Malaysians, experienced a rush of activity on 31 August that caused a significant decline in performance on the MyKasih payment network at several locations.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that despite the disruptions, transactions were still accepted and processed.

MOF is working with MyKasih to expand system capacity so the public can continue making purchases smoothly from 1 September.

MyKasih will also carry out overnight maintenance on 31 August to prepare the system for stable use the next day.

Officials noted that the volume of transactions was far higher than usual.

As of 30 August 2025, the monthly implementation of SARA had handled an average of about 600,000 daily transactions.

The ministry apologised for the inconvenience experienced by users and said it would continue to monitor the initiative closely to ensure smoother operations in the coming days.

It also reminded recipients that the one-off RM100 SARA credit will remain valid until 31 December 2025 and can be used at more than 7,300 registered retail outlets nationwide.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Malaysia, based on image by wirestock via Freepik