Homeless Sabah family gets MP’s attention
JOHOR BAHRU: The pain and suffering of a homeless couple and their five young children who have been living on a fivefoot walkway of a shophouse in Masai, near here over the past two weeks, finally captured the attention of Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament Datuk Normala Abdul Samad.
Normala yesterday visited the family and presented them with daily essential items besides trying to help the couple to get a marriage certificate, as well as birth certificates for their children.
The story about the couple, Al Daser Julasiri, 35, and Norhidayah S Berry D, 25, and their children - Nurul Wahida, 9, Ainur Izaty, 8, Mohamad Nazriy, 6, Nurul Syazwani, 4, and Mohamad Nizhar Alif, eight months - went viral on social media recently.
Normala said she was made to understand that the couple, who hail from Sabah, got married under customary law and did not register their marriage at any religious office, hence the absence of their marriage certificate.
“The fact that the couple do not have a marriage certificate has resulted in their children having no birth certificates.
“We want to help these children because we do not want them to be left out without a future. So today, we try to resolve all documentation issues, and then, we will look into other areas which we can help,” she said.
It is learnt that the family were chased out from their rented house in Kampung Pertanian here two weeks ago and had been turning the five- foot walkway into home using used ply woods.
Daser had also been having severe skin abscess over the past four months, which caused him being unable to work.
Normala said an application had been submitted to the Yayasan Pasir Gudang ( YPG) to provide the family with a house.
“We also want to help send their children to school,” she said.
Meanwhile, Johor Bahru Social Welfare Department officer Manayi Ibrahim said four of the children were eligible to receive a monthly allowance of RM100, while the baby, RM50, from the department. — Bernama