NEW MINISTER FOR WELFARE MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

NEW MINISTER FOR WELFARE MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
Badan Latihan dan Hidup Berdikari Malaysia (ILTC) pada 23hb Mac 2016 menyerahkan memorandum kepada ahli-ahli parlimen mendesak supaya golongan orang kurang upaya (OKU) dikecualikan daripada cukai barangan dan perkhidmatan (GST).

Disabled Members Protest

Disabled Members Protest
Disabled Members Protest at JPJ Wangsa Maju

ILTC Malaysia members staged a protest outside JPJ Wangsamaju KL.

ILTC Malaysia members staged a protest outside JPJ Wangsamaju KL.
Disabled group’s protest disabled drivers required to produce doc's medical report.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Company pays tribute to 25 charitable organisations





Community

Published: Thursday February 6, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Thursday February 6, 2014 MYT 6:41:58 AM

Company pays tribute to 25 charitable organisations

Recognising their efforts: Hanif and Genting Malaysia Berhad president and chief operating officer Datuk Seri Lee Choong Yan (second row, fourth and fifth from left) with the representatives of the 25 charitable organisations after presenting the contribution at Wisma Genting, Kuala Lumpur.
Recognising their efforts: Hanif and Genting Malaysia Berhad president and chief operating officer Datuk Seri Lee Choong Yan (second row, fourth and fifth from left) with the representatives of the 25 charitable organisations after presenting the contribution at Wisma Genting, Kuala Lumpur.
   
GENTING Malaysia Berhad paid tribute to several charitable organisations by pledging a total of RM250,000 to 25 organisations.
During the contribution ceremony, Genting Berhad deputy chairman Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar lauded the institutes’ commitment and their facilitators’ devotion in serving the less fortunate.
He also praised them for improving the lives of the needy, contributing to the greater good of society.
“It is not how long you have been in operation that is important, but rather the effort that you have put in to make a difference.
“Genting Malaysia recognises the contribution every home has made in terms of providing necessities, infrastructures and organising programmes.
“We have seen how they have helped the less fortunate grow in self-worth and given them a sense of belonging,” said Hanif.
Over the years, Genting has made numerous contributions to fund the efforts and expenses of several organisations.
Through its annual Chinese New Year contribution, the company seeks to continue helping organisations bring positive change to the community.
This year, 25 charitable organisations received RM10,000 each. They include the Chinese Medical Aid Department, Rumah Amal Cheshire, Persatuan Kebajikan Ci Hang-Cempaka Selangor and Persatuan Rumah Kebajikan Rita, to name a few.
The charities include homes for the elderly, orphanages, organisations for people with special needs as well as rehabilitation centres.

Silent cry for help

Viewpoints

Wheel Power

Published: Thursday February 6, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Thursday February 6, 2014 MYT 7:53:08 AM

Silent cry for help

Activist: Law King Kiew (forefront) posing with participants at a recent workshop to raise disability awareness in Pattaya, Thailand.
Activist: Law King Kiew (forefront) posing with participants at a recent workshop to raise disability awareness in Pattaya, Thailand.
   
A recent workshop to empower women living with disabilities turned out to be an eye-opener for many.
MORE than two dozen women with disabilities, together with their caregivers, participated in a four-day regional workshop in Pattaya, Thailand, last month.
Themed Voices Of Our Own: Empowering Women With Disabilities, the workshop aimed to help women use available human rights channels and resources as advocacy tools to eliminate violence against disabled women.
There were at least two participants each from Asean member countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Philippines and Singapore were unable to participate in the special event.
Malaysia had two representatives, one of whom was Law King Kiew, a paralympian at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000.
Law shared that this was one of the most eye-opening workshops which she had attended.
“Apart from wheelchair-users, there were also persons who were blind,” said Law, 53, who became paralysed from the waist down following a spinal injury at the age of 19.
“What was different about this workshop was the presence of persons with learning disabilities who were usually left out of such events,” Law observed, adding that it was interesting to get their input which was conveyed by their parents who were the caregivers.
Law, who sees herself as an activist for the disabled, said the most poignant stories came from Deaf participants. Nearly half a dozen of them were from the host country, Thailand. The organisers included the Deaf in the workshop to raise awareness among participants, especially those with other types of handicaps.
Participants shared stories of how they were denied education and faced discrimination and social stigma as women with disabilities in their respective countries. It was the Deaf women’s struggles that were the most heartbreaking. “They suffered more, especially as victims of violence, as their disability was invisible,” said Law.
Participants heard horror stories of how some Deaf women were dragged into nearby bushes and raped after visiting the temple to fulfil their religious obligations. They were unable to shout or scream for help because of their condition. Lodging a report with the authorities was another nightmare as the police were unfamiliar with sign language.
“The Deaf’s complaints were often not taken seriously. Some of them were even accused of inviting trouble,” said Law.
The workshop participants discovered that such situations did not only happen in public places but also in boarding school dormitories, at the workplace and even in the home.
The Deaf related their stories in close-door sessions with the help of sign language interpreters.
The full-day sessions ended with free time in the evenings for shopping and visits.
Law was pleased with the disabled-friendly resort where they stayed during the four-day workshop from Jan 13 to 16.
“The organisers should be credited for making sure that the washrooms were fitted with features such as grab bars and wide doors,” Law said.
The speakers and trainers were all women with disabilities except for one man in a wheelchair who spoke on media sensitivity to persons with disabilities.
The first two days of the workshops were spent familiarising participants with the issues at hand and what the workshop hoped to achieve. The third day included learning trips to a couple of places.
“One of the most inspiring venues was a vocational school for persons with disabilities. The students were taught a number of skills and learnt English and information technology, and how to use computers. All the teachers were volunteers and most of the staff, including the principal, were wheelchair users.
“We also visited another vocational outfit for social entrepreneurs where non-disabled students were encouraged to sit in wheelchairs or be blindfolded to enable them to experience what it was like to live with a disability.
“They had to put away their mobile phones and live without electricity on certain days, and even skipped a meal to experience hunger,” Law added.

Welfare department’s unkindest cut

Welfare department’s unkindest cut

 | February 5, 2014
Welfare officers are said to be rude and arrogant in dealing with Malaysians with disabilities.
COMMENT
The galloping in of the year of the horse over the last weekend may have brought in good energy, strength and renewed hope for many.
However for Malaysians with disabilities, the lunar occasion proved to be not only a rather rough and bumpy ride, but also a nasty one.
A number of them looking forward to celebrate Chinese New Year with their families had a shock of their lives when they discovered their money missing when they visited the bank.
“A wheelchair-user friend cried over the telephone with me that her monthly workers’ allowance of RM300 from the Welfare Department had been abruptly stopped for over two months by the government,” said Law King Kiew, a disabled activist from Kepong in Selangor.
“This was the unkindest cut that anyone could mete out on the disabled. The same thing also happened to the Indian disabled community during Deepavali last year,” Law, 53, added.
(Employees with disabilities who are salaried RM1,200 and below, qualify for a monthly allowance of RM300 from the Welfare Department. Recently the welfare came up with a new policy that all monthly allowance applicants require to update their details annually in order to continue with their privilege.)
“The problem with the new requirement is that current recipients of welfare aid are subjected to go through all the red tape and difficulties every year as if they are fresh applicants,” Law explained.
She went on to point out that the problem is most wheelchair users have no transport of their own. They also have no access to public transport. Even if they are able to somehow get there, many of the welfare offices are situated upstairs with no lifts or bathroom facilities that are friendly for wheelchairs.
Here are true incidents of what transpired to disabled persons over their monthly allowance cuts:
  • One man in a wheelchair went to Bank Simpanan Nasional to withdraw his allowance only to find out that the money was not credited into his account. He had to get his son to take time off from his work in order to take him to the bank. The bank was not wheelchair accessible.
  • An elderly woman wheelchair-user went to the welfare office in the Grand Season’s Avenue. The lady at the counter gave her the disappointing news and asked her to go home and wait for further instructions from them.
  • An elderly gentleman who called the welfare department to ask why his allowance was not in was informed by an officer that he was supposed to be an owner of two cars which was not true. She also informed him that they had already sent a letter to him a couple of months earlier informing him of the cut. But he didn’t receive any notice. When he checked with them on the address, it was his old address and not his new one which he had already updated with the welfare department more than a year ago.
  • Some disabled persons after finding out about the new forms expressed their deep disappointment that they were not able to claim their monies for the months that they had missed, pointing out that the money is vital to their survival.
Lazy officials
“So what do you expect wheelchair users to do? The taxi fare itself to the welfare department would cost a bomb and eat into the allowance amount. And imagine going through this rigmarole each and every year?!” fumed Law.
Law who has been disabled since the age of 19 insists that the onus of responsibility should be on the welfare officers to visit the home of each disabled applicant in their vicinity to update their forms on the individual.
“Even though visiting the home of the disabled is a policy of the welfare, some of the officers are just too lazy to do it – and their superiors seem to take their responsibilities lightly.
“It is unconscionable that the handicapped are expected to go through all the trouble and running around whilst welfare officers who are not disabled shake their legs in comfort in their air conditioned offices.”
Law said the welfare needs to train all of its staff to speak with respect and kindness.
“After all, the reason why the welfare have jobs and are being paid for it is to help the disabled and they should never forget this.”
“They need to listen more, be patient – not arrogant – and explain details clearly and with a smile. Appointments to meet with the handicapped should be made well in advance and not at the last minute with notices duly delivered. And what better way to find out more about your disabled clients than in making personal visits to their homes to see how they are coping with their lives?”
This writer concurs.
When I rang up the welfare office in Subang Jaya a couple of months ago to enquire about the allowance, I was rudely told off by the staff that I had to personally come into the office with a load of particulars to get it done.
When I asked the officer to come to my house instead, she told me flat outright that they have no procedure to do such a thing. When I insisted, explaining that I had no one to help me get to her office, she let out a cynical laugh and retorted, “I will have to check with my boss about it.”
She gave me no idea of when she will get back to me. It was clear that her response was only meant to be rhetorical.
It is most shocking to note that after Malaysia’s signing – and ratifying – of historical documents such as the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – and the myriads of conferences being held on the disabled each year that seem to only give the able-bodied a “feel good factor” after it is over and leave the disabled with nothing, we still have to put up with frontline staff like this every day.
And of course, many want to know also as to what the newly installed disabled senator is doing about this issue that affects all disabled employees throughout the nation?
This would be a great opportunity and challenge to seize it to make things right for the most disadvantaged citizens of our country.
Anthony SB Thanasayan, a former councillor, is  wheelchair bound and an animal activist.