| 
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Actually, earlier the minister in charge mentioned that if a house has “facilities” like TV or sofa, they won’t be eligible for aid. So, what’s next? Having motorbike, car, telephone, PC, or handphone means you are rich? Are we trying to keep the poor in the dark ages instead of empowering them?
So imagine when you read something like the news below:
The words “disabled, Astro” and “aid” cannot occur in the same sentence, as far as the Welfare Department is concerned.
The department bars the disabled from getting welfare aid if they have Astro or a television set at home.
The rule applies even if one lives in someone else’s house, temporarily or otherwise.
S. Karupanan, 73, found this out the hard way three months ago when the department cut the RM200 aid to him as he was temporarily staying in a house which “had Astro service”.
The department had paid for surgery on one knee and promised to underwrite the cost of the operation on the other knee.
But while awaiting the second surgery, he moved into his daughter’s house and his troubles began.
Welfare officers who came to visit him saw red when they chanced upon the Astro connection and immediately withdrew the aid.
For K. Shanmugam, 51, who applied for welfare assistance in 2005 on becoming paralysed, it has been a string of “no’s” from the department for aid.
His mistake, he believes, was his honest reply when asked if he had a television set and Astro at home.
“That’s the first question they asked. When I said I had both, they immediately said that I was not eligible for assistance as there were others poorer than me.”
The former crane driver, who was earning RM2,000 in Singapore when a motorcycle accident four years ago left him paralysed, was baffled by the department’s decision.
He said that the bills of the family of six were paid by relatives who realised that he only had Astro to keep him company when the children were out of the house.
“I cannot work. The only pleasure in my life now is the Astro service,” he said.
Another extreme case is that of a a disabled 40-year-old, paralysed from the neck downwards, who lives with her partly-paralysed mother.
The disabled woman, who declined to be identified, decided against applying for an Astro connection after being warned by a welfare officer that they would cut aid to them if she did so.
What she cannot understand is why they would do so as Astro was the “only” company she and her mother could have at home.
“We cannot leave our house and we live on donations and welfare aid. What’s wrong if some people who sympathise want to get us an Astro connection?”
The Malaysian Indian Business Association wants the government to review the decision to deny aid to the disabled if they have an Astro connection or a television set at home.
Its president, P. Sivakumar, said the Welfare Department should realise that the disabled had little else but television programmes to keep them company. “We have received many complaints of welfare aid being withdrawn after the department found out that the disabled person had an Astro connection or television set at home.”
Disabled Persons’ Integrated Family Services (Kioku) secretary-general Chris S. Kali Thasan said the Welfare Department should not impose such conditions on people seeking assistance. “I remember years ago even those who had a refrigerator were denied assistance. Now it’s Astro. It’s unfair in many cases as Astro bills are usually paid by relatives or well-wishers.”
He said Astro programmes were a good diversion for the disabled who could not work and had to stay at home.
Representatives from disabled people groups met Minister Shahrizat yesterday to show their unhappiness. Shahrizat promised to look into their request:
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Senator Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the department would be reviewing the ruling that bars the disabled from getting aid if they had a television set or Astro service at home.
She said this at a meeting with 12 disabled people who came to see her at her ministry yesterday over the issue.
The disabled, who came in wheelchairs, were from the Disabled Persons Integrated Family Services (KIOKU), Independent Living and Training Centre and the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association.
“You are telling me to look at it, which I will. I think it’s a reasonable request and I will look at it,” she said, adding the ruling did not constitute discrimination against the disabled.“We will come back with realistic answers.”
… She said the ruling only applied to those under the Disabled Persons Unable to Work scheme, who were being given RM150 per month in aid.“The underlying principle for welfare aid to the poor and needy is to ensure that their basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, are met.
“As such, the ruling on Astro is applicable because it gives an indication of the affordability of the applicant to spend on something extra, in this case entertainment.”
She said Astro was considered a monthly expense that would reduce welfare aid being used for basic needs.
Shahrizat said the ruling did not affect the other two welfare schemes for disabled workers and people caring for a bedridden disabled person, who get RM300 a month.
She said action would be taken against officers who imposed the ruling on people in these two schemes
…. She said she understood the predicament of the disabled, with most lying on a bed the whole day, with nothing to do but stare at empty walls.Shahrizat said she would also speak to Astro to provide free services to the disabled as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. There are 28,608 disabled people registered with the ministry.
It seems Baitulmal, which provides aid for muslims also have similar ruling, according to Sisters In Islam.
