Group calls minister heartless, criticises Social Welfare cashless programme
A disability rights group has labelled Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Rina Harun "heartless" following the rollout of the Social Welfare Department (JKM)'s cashless assistance programme.
Criticisms of programme included limiting the stores users could shop at which was said would burden people with disabilities as well as for not engaging the community before it was implemented.
“JKM Cashless is a nuisance, the minister has no heart for us.
“At least have some courtesy to ask us what our needs are. They are treating us like animals,” said Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) president Francis Siva.
He was at a protest with several other organisations to submit a memorandum to Rina outside the ministry's building in Putrajaya today.
The organisations present included the Malaysia Spinal Injury Association (Masia), Malaysian Independent Living Association (Milad), Society of Chinese Disabled Persons Malaysia, and the Malaysian Visually Impaired Association.
JKM’s cashless assistance programme was launched in April last year in cooperation with Bank Islam.
It divides cash aid for the disabled community into two types of payments: half into a Bank Islam ATM card and the other in a card called JKMPay.
The amount in JKMPay can only be used in selected stores registered with Bank Islam.
In the memorandum sighted by Malaysiakini, the group claimed JKMPay burdened people with disabilities as it meant they could only shop at selected stores.
Milad member Sia Siew Chin said cash assistance is used to pay for medication, water and electricity bills, transportation, and even wheelchair parts.
She claimed that on top of the assistance being extremely difficult for the disabled community to use, no prior engagement was done by the ministry to understand how it could benefit them.
“If the minister really cared for us, she would have some discussion on how to benefit in the long run because this (the assistance) does not benefit the system.
“They (the ministry) should have consulted disability groups before they made any decision,” she said.
‘We want Rina’
At the protest today, the group refused to hand the memorandum to the ministry's Corporate Communications head Eikmar Rizal Mohd Ripin, despite promises that he would hand the memorandum to Rina.
They demanded Rina to personally accept the memorandum and would not settle for a representative.
A consensus was later reached, with the memorandum eventually being handed to Women, Family, and Community Development Deputy Minister Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff.
When Milad vice president Muha Aziz asked Zailah about when the groups would receive a response from the ministry, she responded with “Insyaallah” (God willing).
This sparked an uproar as the group refused to accept the answer. They claimed it was a standard response from the ministry.
“We don't want to accept ‘Insyaallah’, give us a time frame,” demanded Muha.
After further pressing by the group, the deputy minister promised to get back to the group within two weeks, adding that the matter will be brought to Rina.
“Insyaallah, we will discuss the issue among the top leadership, including the minister, to see how it can be resolved to provide the best care for persons with disabilities,” she later told the press.
Muha said if an answer was not given within two weeks, they would return to the ministry's building with a bigger group.
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