Out goes welfare aid requiring a rep’s approval, says Melaka CM

MELAKA: The Melaka government is doing away with a requirement where applicants need to obtain support letters from state assemblymen and village heads to receive welfare aid.

Chief Minister Adly Zahari said from now on, this would be handled by the state Welfare Department.

“There will be no intervention from political appointees, while the procedures for aid distributions will be revised,” he said.

Adly said the department had the capacity to evaluate each application without bias.

“The move is to ensure that the aid reaches deserving recipients. The department has been given the authority to either accept or reject the applications based on its own assessment,” he said after chairing the state exco meeting at Seri Negeri here yesterday.

On the disbursement of allocations, Adly said state exco members and assemblymen, including Barisan Nasional representatives, were eligible for the funds.

However, he said the quantum of the allocations had been reduced, claiming that 90% of the funds had been exhausted by the previous government before GE14.

On another matter, Adly said the state government would focus on promoting Melaka domestically without embarking on overseas promotions for the moment.

“This is to avoid the problem of cost overruns,” he said, adding that all other state departments had been told to be more budget conscious.