The article didn’t mention if the adult children are staying with her, so that may be one of the reasons why she’s getting just RM50 as aid. \u00a0But being one of the 30 cases, then there may be some other issues here. The Welfare Dept’s guideline may also need to be updated, if there’s any provision for RM50. Nowadays even RM300 also not enough for the urban poor.<\/p>\n
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She lost her factory job and her husband died several years ago. Without a steady income, her health has deteriorated and her two adult children cannot even afford to fend for themselves.<\/p>\n
Single mother Savunthary Muniandy, 49, is crying for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 22-year-old daughter is a single mother who has a baby to feed. My son, 26, has been wayward for a long time now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even afford to pay my medical bills for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems. I owe my relatives over RM3,000 for my bills,\u201d she said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Savunthary is one of 30 single mothers from Cempaka Flats in Gombak, who sought help from the Umno Youth Community Complaints Bureau after they claimed their appeals for financial support from the Welfare Department had fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
She receives RM50 a month from the department which can hardly pay for her flat rental of RM450.<\/p>\n
Bureau\u00a0chairman Datuk Muhd Khairun Aseh\u00a0said the single mothers received between RM30 and RM150 when they should be getting a minimum of RM300 a month, depending on their situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are they going to survive?\u201d Muhd Khairun asked, adding that he had prepared a memorandum to be submitted to department officials on Monday for them to act on their complaints.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n