Don't make them apply yearly' call

'Don't make them apply yearly' call

Published on: Sunday, June 02, 2013

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Kota Kinabalu: The proposal that every recipient of welfare aid needs to reapply every year will cause untold inconvenience to the poor recipients.

Former Assistant Minister of Community Development and Consumer Affairs, Jornah Mozihim, said she supports the existing procedure whereby recipients are merely required to fill up a review form within three or four months before the expiry date of one year, and then called to attend an interview to ascertain whether the welfare aid is to be continued the following year.

She believes that when the Public Welfare Services Department's (JPKA) officers process new applications, they would in the initial stage make an assessment of the applicants' plight and would know the duration in which they (applicants) deserve help.

"I hope the new Minister of Community Development and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Jainab Ahmad, would reconsider her proposal which, if implemented, would only unnecessarily subject recipients to the reapplying process over and over again.

"It would also affect the livelihood of poor recipients, especially single mothers who need the welfare assistance for their school-going children," she said in a statement, Saturday.

By the same token, Jornah, who is a former Matunggong Assemblywoman, contended that Jainab's proposal would mean having to increase the manpower strength at the State Public Welfare Services Department (JPKA) to cope with the bulk of re-applications.

"For now, the number of recipients stands at 75,800. In the interim, I am sure the existing process will be disrupted besides imposing great stress on existing recipients," she said.

Meanwhile, Jornah suggested that the JPKA allocate a minimal aid for burial for a recipient of Old Age Assistance.

"Apart from giving the bereaved family a relief on the burial expenses, that would also curb the incidence of unreported cases of deceased recipients whose family members continue receiving the aid on behalf of the deceased.

This has happened in the past," she pointed out.