Although he initially suffered from resentment and anger at his injury, Sasitharan Chandran is now a motivational speaker who wants to help others in similar situations.
It was a normal day on the job for engineer Sasitharan Chandran until he suffered a fall which left him with severe mobility issues.
That was seven years ago. Today, speaking from the wheelchair which has become his primary mode of movement, he recalls the hardships he went through and the losses he experienced, as well as his determination to pursue his ambitions despite his disability.
Sasitharan, 53, met with the accident while working in Indonesia.
“I lost all sensation in my legs,” he told MalaysiaNow. “Over time, the numbness became worse and walking became difficult.”
Sasitharan visited many local specialist hospitals but none of the doctors could tell him why he was unable to walk.
He then spent thousands of ringgit seeking traditional treatment in Kerala, India.
“They told me it was nothing serious and that I would be able to walk as usual,” he added. “But I had to pay RM13,000 in advance for a week’s treatment.”
He said they told him to continue this treatment for three months.
“But nothing changed, and I saw no positive signs.”
His feeling of having been cheated turned into depression and he began lashing out at those around him. Eventually, his marriage failed and he was left alone.
He then underwent psychiatric treatment for six months before returning to his home town in Sungai Petani, Kedah.
There, his family advised him to seek spiritual treatment at a temple. He agreed, and was told that his physical condition was triggered by mystic powers.
“They said it was a curse,” he added. “But I chose to look at it from a positive perspective because everything happens for a reason.”
But despite his optimism, his condition continue to deteriorate until five years later, in 2019, he found himself wheelchair-bound.
His life took a turn for the better after he joined a programme by the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit or Mitra.
He underwent training at the Independent Living & Training Centre (ILTC) which facilitates the acquisition of new skills and aims to boost self-motivation among members.
Now a member himself, he is also a motivational speaker at the Penang-based organisation.
He is also pursuing a master’s degree at Open University, and intends to further his studies to the PhD level.
“After undergoing training at ILTC, I saw that there are people with more severe disabilities than I have,” he said. “This inspired me to improve myself.”
His ambition now is to become a lecturer.
“Otherwise, I will continue with ILTC to help disabled people learn new skills.”
When he went to hand deliver the form at the Jalan Pahang welfare office, he was told to drop the form in a letter box. Which, my friend duly did. The problem is after four months of waiting, and making more than 20 phone calls to the Jalan Pahang welfare office, where none of the calls were answered, he went to the same office to check on the progress of his application, with his immobile wife on a wheelchair.
The officer told him, that the form is not to be submitted in Jalan Pahang but must be sent to Kajang. My poor friend, who was at the office, also witnessed several people coming into the office on wheelchairs, crutches and with heavy assistance from family members to meet the officers and check on their progress too. I was also made to understand that the Covid-19 pandemic has even made matters worse where the young and the old are out of jobs, and further burdened financially.
My friend was told that his application has been sent to Kajang welfare office and he must go there to check on the progress. The intent of this letter is to highlight to the decision makers at the Welfare Ministry, let us be more humane in managing the poor, disabled and the weak.
I suggest that there must be an officer at the counter of each welfare office in the country, where they will attend to the people who walk in. These officers will then advise the applicants or the welfare recipients on the procedures and which office they should go to, to check on the progress. By doing this, I am sure the poor person or applicant who is in distress will not be stretched further.
My dear friend had to go to the Kajang welfare office after waiting patiently for more than four months. I think this is certainly discouraging and demoralising for one who is desperate to get some form of help from our government.
The civil servants must listen intently to the grievances and rumblings of the “rakyat” and ensure every hurdle is cleared to ensure the service becomes more effective and productive. What is the reason for delaying and application for months, when the applicant is in dire needs for financial help? Why weren’t the phone calls were answered at the Jalan Pahang welfare office?
It is my utmost hope the secretary-general of the Ministry of Welfare will ensure that he visits the welfare offices at around the country to ensure that simple measures like this are instituted and implemented to make the service more humane and effective.
My poor friend is still in a lurch. Hopefully, someone from the Kajang welfare office will review his application and help him. It is a tragedy to have a heart ailment and its even worst when your life partner suffers a stroke and becomes immobile. What more distress do you need when you are ill, wife is immobile, savings wiped out and getting assistance from the welfare office is such a constraint?
Hopefully, the Ministry of Welfare will seriously consider this suggestion.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Mereka hadir di pejabat JKM untuk bertanya mengenai kes Elaun Pekerja Cacat (EPC) seorang lelaki yang didakwa telah dibatalkan tanpa siasatan yang tepat.
PETALING JAYA: Golongan kelainan upaya mendakwa terhalang daripada menerima elaun bulanan serta bantuan akibat kerenah birokrasi (red tape) dan prosedur yang disifatkan mendiskriminasi.
Seorang lelaki kelainan upaya dari kumpulan B40 mengadu elaun bulanannya telah dipotong kerana beliau tidak tahu perlu mengisi borang penilaian tahunan untuk mengesahkan kelayakannya.
Menurut mereka, pegawai kebajikan kerajaan juga sepatutnya melakukan lawatan rumah ke rumah untuk membuat pemeriksaan terhadap golongan kurang upaya ini.
Lelaki itu, Kumar Nadeson, mendakwa elaun pekerja cacat (EPC) telah dibatalkan jabatan itu tanpa melakukan siasatan terlebih dahulu, kata Presiden Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) G Francis Siva kepada FMT.
Kini golongan kelainan upaya perlu mengisi borang itu secara tahunan untuk terus menerima bantuan.
Siva bagaimanapun berkata, masih ramai dalam komuniti itu tidak tahu mengenai keperluan ini kerana mendakwa tiada usaha untuk memaklumkan SOP berkenaan kepada penerima terbabit.
Siva berkata pegawai kebajikan kerajaan sepatutnya membuat lawatan rumah ke rumah golongan kelainan upaya ini untuk mengesahkan keadaan mereka.
Sambil menggelar SOP itu sebagai satu bentuk diskriminasi, beliau mendakwa pegawai jabatan kebajikan tidak melawat golongan kelainan upaya ini di rumah untuk mengesahkan keadaan mereka sebelum membatalkan elaun mereka.
“Kebanyakan mereka tidak mampu mengisi borang atau pergi ke pejabat. Tiada pengangkutan awam sesuai untuk mereka,” katanya dengan menambah tidak ramai mampu dari segi kewangan untuk menggunakan perkhidmatan teksi atau e-panggilan.
Beliau menggesa Menteri Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat Rina Harun supaya mengadakan pertemuan dengan pemegang taruh segera untuk mencapai penyelesaian.
FMT telah menghubungi Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat bagi mengulas isu ini.
Sementara itu, penolong pengarah eksekutif National Council for the Blind Malaysia Choo Siew Cheong berkata golongan kurang upaya penglihatan turut berdepan masalah sama, namun ‘tidak kuasa’ mengadukannya.
“Apa gunanya mengadu? Jika mengadu sekalipun belum tentu akan dapat (elaun) semula.”
Sebaliknya, beliau mencadangkan pembaharuan terhadap struktur elaun sedia ada.
“Sudah tiba masanya kita melihat sistem sedia ada secara jujur dan meneliti sama ada kita memang membantu memberi sokongan untuk golongan kelainan upaya,” katanya.
Menurutnya, kerajaan patut mempertimbangkan elaun untuk setiap orang kelainan upaya yang didaftarkan dengan jabatan kebajikan.
“Kerajaan patut menjimatkan wang dengan melantik pegawai untuk melawat rumah ke rumah bagi memastikan status kelayakan orang kelainan upaya terbabit.”
Tambahnya, kerajaan juga patut mengenal pasti kes paling memerlukan dan menyesuaikan jumlah elaun berdasarkan sejauh mana teruknya keadaan mereka.
64PETALING JAYA: Bureaucratic red tape has apparently caused many disabled people to lose their monthly welfare allowances.
A man from the B40 income group, Kumar Nadeson, complains that his allowance has been cut off because he failed to fill up a yearly review form to confirm his eligibility.
He was unaware of the requirement and the Welfare Department cancelled the allowance without making any investigation, according to G Francis Siva, president of the Independent Living and Training Centre.
Siva told FMT the review form was a feature of an SOP the government put in place a few years ago to ensure that those receiving allowances are truly eligible. This followed reports of leakage of funds.
All disabled persons are now required to fill up the form every year, but Siva said many were still unaware of the requirement and claimed that there had been no effort to inform the recipients.
He said welfare officers should conduct door-to-door visits on the disabled to check on their availability in person.
He called the SOP a form of discrimination and alleged that welfare officers had not visited the recipients to check on their condition before cancelling their allowances.
“Most of them can’t fill up the forms or even go to the welfare office because there is no proper public transportation for them,” he said, adding that many could not afford taxis or e-hailing services.
He urged Rina Harun, the minister of women, family and community development, to set up a meeting with stakeholders immediately to come up with solutions.
Choo Siew Cheong, assistant executive director of the National Council for the Blind, said the blind saw no point in complaining about the procedure.
He said: “What’s the point of complaining? If you complain, you may not even get the allowance back.”
He recommended an overhaul of the system governing the dispensing of welfare aid.
“It’s time we look at the current system honestly and see if we are really helping to support people with disabilities,” he said.
He urged the government to consider employing officers to go door-to-door to check on the eligibility status of the disabled, identify the deserving cases and adjust the amounts given according to the severity of disability.
The government could end up saving money by doing so, he said.
They say they were very badly treated and urge welfare minister Rina Harun to explain.
A group of disabled activists have accused the welfare department (JKM) of calling in the police to intimidate them when they went to the department to inquire about a case in which the Disabled Workers Allowance or EPC for a man was said to be cancelled without a proper investigation.
The activists from the Independent Living & Training Centre Malaysia (ILTC) said they had travelled from Rawang to Kuala Lumpur yesterday to help Kumar Nadeson, a disabled person whom they said had been suffering throughout the Covid-19 pandemic without a proper income.
“We all went there to help him to get the JKM monthly financial aid of EPC allowance.
“They treated us very badly and even called the police to frighten us. We fought with JKM officers at the front desk,” they said in a statement.
Videos of the incident show the activists at the department, arguing with several police officers.
An activist is also seen shouting at an officer when politely asked to leave the premises.
“We want to ask our welfare minister Rina Harun to explain to us how to help this serious issue, where we were very badly treated, very upset, and why they called the police,” the activists added.
MalaysiaNow is seeking a response from the minister as well as the JKM officers.
When contacted, ILTC president Francis Siva said Kumar’s allowance was cancelled because he had not renewed his application using a new form called “Borang Kaji Semula JKM”.
“The last payment was in January 2020. After that, no payment was made until now,” he said.“
He has lost more than RM5,000 so far. He submitted another form in November, but nothing was done.”
Francis, who also said that the allowance was cancelled without proper checks, said the new application process was difficult for the disabled community as many of them are illiterate and do not know how to fill up the form.
“They don’t understand the suffering of OKU people,” he said, using the Malay acronym for those who are disabled. “They can’t come to the office. Public transport is not convenient.”
He said he and the activists have been trying to reach out to Rina to highlight the issue and to urge her to simplify the application process.
He also said that Kumar’s application was immediately approved and a one-month allowance issued after the incident at the department.
