Halimey wants to ‘end socio-economic woes among urban poor’

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan’s Halimey Abu Bakar wants to reduce social problems among the urban poor by introducing counselling centres at low-cost flats in Seri Setia.

He said residents living in People’s Housing Project (PPR) flats were low-income earners and were exposed to socio-economic problems.

“This situation needs to be addressed,” he said during a visit to PPR Lembah Subang 1.

Halimey pledged to introduce more community counselling centres in the Seri Setia constituency to better address the urban poor issue.

“Several NGOs have come forward to volunteer their services in Lembah Subang but I feel it is still not enough to cater to the needs of the community,” he said, adding that counselling courses would also be created for community leaders from mosques, resident associations as well as for non-Muslim leaders to create a better understanding and stronger bond among residents in each neighbourhood.

At present, there is only one community counselling centre in the Petaling district. It is headed by former Universiti Malaya counselling lecturer Bahrom Abu Bakar who will help Halimey set up more such centres.

Nasrudin A. Ghani, who has been living in Seri Setia for three years, said various programmes initiated by community leaders had brought the residents closer.

“People used to ignore one anoth- er and this often led to fights or quarrels easily.

“But things improved this year when we started introducing small community events to meet others in different blocks,” said the 61-yearold retiree.

Another resident Misha Rom, 55, said it was a good initiative by Halimey as residents could confide their problems with a professional.

“We have also learned to make more friends and understand the different cultures through programmes such as the Voluntary Patrol Scheme group, which is organised twice a week for each block,” she said.

Halimey is also proposing to have a Talian Khas (special telephone line) to address local issues.

“It is not easy to fix an issue in a community, especially when you live with so many others.

“It can be complicated but we need to understand the importance of working together,” he said.

The Seri Setia polls on Sept 8 will see a straight fight between Halimey and PAS’ Dr Halimah Ali.