Which e-wallet is better to claim your RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat? (Boost, GrabPay, TnG)

As you might have aware, the Malaysian government is giving off RM30 digital incentive to eligible Malaysians to encourage e-wallet usage.

The 3 selected e-wallets to participate in this initiative are: Boost, GrabPay and TnG eWallet.

In order to be eligible to claim this RM30 from your e-wallet, you need to be:

• Have a valid MyKad as a Malaysian citizen.
• Aged 18 years and above as of 31 December 2020.
• Have a combined personal income of less than RM100,000 as declared to LHDN in assessment year 2018. If you did not file your income tax for assessment year 2018 due to having zero or low income, such as students, retirees, etc., you have chance to get this RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat too.

To claim for this RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat, you need:

• To be an e-wallet user of at least one of Boost, GrabPay or TnG eWallet.
• To have your e-wallet user identity fully verified by going through MyKad and face validation. 

As a reminder, your children, parents, and grandparents might be eligible to claim for this RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat. If they have not registered as e-wallet user yet, you might want to get them ready by registering them as an e-wallet user, and complete their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification process as soon as possible.

The RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat can be claimed from one of the three participating e-wallets from 15 January 2020 onwards. It must be used latest by the expiry date of 14 March 2020.

If you have a car and have been using Touch n Go to pay for tolls, TnG eWallet will be a good choice for you to claim the RM30 e-Tunai Rakyat. Nowadays, you can also use TnG eWallet to pay for supported municipal council's road parking. You can also use this e-wallet to pay prepaid and/or postpaid mobile service. Of course, this e-wallet can also be used in supported online and physical shops.

If you don't have a car and/or always use Grab Car and/or Grab Food services, then GrabPay will be your good choice to perform the claiming. This e-wallet can also be used in supported online and physical shops as well.

Boost is a good choice to pay bills, to save money in SSPN account, to buy gold from Hello Gold platform, etc. It can also be used to pay for supported parking, both street parking and also gated parking. It is also well accepted in online and physical shops.

Note that if you buy online using your mobile phone, you can earn Shopback cashback by accessing TnG ewallet or Boost through Shopback app. Grab used to have cooperation with Shopback for cashback on user's spending, but unfortunately now you can no longer earn Shopback cashback from Grab.

You can reload (a.k.a. top-up) your digital money in Boost, GrabPay and TnG eWallet using credit card, debit card and online bank transfer. A better way is to reload them using BigPay Mastercard, so that you can earn Big Points as well.

If you are registering a new Boost account and need a referral code to get RM5 in your e-wallet right after your first spending of RM10 or above in a single transaction, you can use this invite code: foocnm9

If you are registering a new TnG eWallet account and need a referral code to get some toll rebates (100% rebate on toll fees), you can use this referral code: m4sxxm

Grab used to also have referral programme, but unfortunately has been discontinued since December 2019.

Cooking hob type comparison: gas vs ceramic vs induction

Currently there are 3 major types of cooking hob available in the market.

The traditional cooking gas type has been around for a long time, and perhaps is the most commonly used type.

On the other hand, there are 2 types of electrical hob, one type works using radiation under ceramic top, and another is the induction type. The heating source of the ceramic hob can be of cooker ring elements, halogen lamp, or some other materials.

The table below compares the characteristics, pros and cons among the gas hob, ceramic hob and induction hob (click on the image to enlarge it).

There is little doubt that the electrical hobs are better than the traditional gas hob, especially in terms of safety.

While the induction hob seems to be a better choice than the ceramic hob, its limitation in cookware compatibility is a major set back.

Luckily nowadays there exist 2-in-1 cooker hobs that contain both ceramic burner and induction burner on same piece of hob for you to get the best of both.

Another major consideration when buying a hob is the material used for its glass surface, as poor material is easier to get scratched, cracked or broken. Brand names such as Eurokera, Schott, NEG, etc. could give you some confidence on the ceramic glass material quality.

Malaysia year 2020 national and state public holidays

The official 2020 national and state public holidays in Malaysia has been announced by Cabinet, Constitution and Inter-Government Relation Division (BKPP), Prime Minister Department.

There are 14 days of national holiday (12 national holidays, whereby Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Puasa have 2 days of holiday respectively, and all the rest are 1 day).

3 of them fall on Friday, 4 fall on Saturday, 2 fall on Sunday, and 2 fall on Monday. Most of the states will have around 4 state holidays in addition to the national holidays.

Chinese New Year falls on weekend Saturday and Sunday (25th and 26th January 2020). As such, Monday 27th January 2020 will also be a holiday.

Hari Raya Puasa falls on Sunday and Monday (24th and 25th May 2020).  As such, Tuesday 26th May 2020 will also be a holiday.

Unfortunately, Deepavali falls on Saturday (14th November 2020), which is already a weekend off day for many people.

Click here to download the table of Malaysia year 2020 gazetted national and state public holidays.