Pillar Foundation to help hardcore poor with housing issues
KUCHING: Pillar Foundation Malaysia, a non-government organisation (NGO), is all set to collaborate with the United Nations (UN) in helping the hardcore poor especially on issues related to housing.
Its president Dato’ Seri Aisah Mahmud said the foundation is already in the midst of talking with an UN official.
“We are in a discussion stage with a representative from UN now so that issues related to housing for the hardcore poor could be looked into.
“The issue of dilapidated houses is nothing new including in Sarawak. I have seen and heard about it for many years already,” she said during the ‘Pillar Foundation City Poor Care Day’ for the Dayak community at Kampung Desa Wira here yesterday.
Aisah explained that although housing issues is under the jurisdiction of the Local Government and Housing Ministry, Pillar Foundation is trying to draft a cooperation with UN which has fund for that.
Pillar Foundation does not
We are in a discussion stage with a representative from UN now so that issues related to housing for the hardcore poor could be looked into.The issue of dilapidated houses is nothing new including in Sarawak. I have seen and heard about it for many years already.
— Dato’ Seri Aisah Mahmud, Pillar Foundation Malaysia president
have or get fund for housing from the government to help the hardcore poor, she revealed, adding that they have to look for contribution from the public and corporate organisations to help those really in need.
It is hoping that colloboration with the UN could help the the hardcore poor in Malaysia, including in Sarawak, to repair and build a decent homes.
The foundation, which has operated since 1988, had also reached out to poor families in other countries including Cambodia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Lebanon.
On another matter, Aisah lamented that a few days ago a UN representative announced that the poverty rate in Malaysia has increased by a certain percentage compared to four or five years ago.
“That means, the government’s efforts to reduce poverty through e-Kasih and other initiatives before this could not meet the target.
“If this is true, the NGOs as well as the government are going to face bigger challenges ahead because while the old problems had not been solved, the new one crops up,” she said.
She claimed that, based on their studies, thousands of hardcore families in the country have been left out or overlooked by the e-kasih programme.
She warned that if those who were supposed to be helped could not get the assistance, more social problems would arise.