RM143 mln in aid channelled to 52,000 underprivileged cases in Sarawak
Government welfare assistance worth over RM143 million has been channelled to more than 52,000 underprivileged cases in Sarawak.
The data, registered between Jan 1 and July 31 this year, was disclosed by Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah during a press conference held after she chaired a Sarawak Women and Family Council meeting at Wisma Wanita here yesterday.
Additionally, she said a total of 52,318 cases under five assistance schemes had received monthly welfare aid valued at RM143,164,770 up to July this year.
“With the new rates, we see a substantial increase in the children’s assistance scheme, where the maximum monthly assistance was RM450 and now, it is increased to RM1,000 per family.
“This assistance used to be RM100 per child aged six and below. Under the new rate, it is RM200 per child.
“If a single mother has three children six years and below, the assistance is RM600 per month,” she told reporters.
Fatimah said the senior citizen assistance had increased from RM350 to RM500 monthly, while the allowance for employed physically-challenged individuals had also gone up to RM450, from RM400.
She said also seeing an increase of RM50 was the assistance for the unemployed physicallychallenged individuals, which was now RM300 per month.
“The monthly assistance for bedridden chronic patients or caretakers of bedridden physically challenged individuals has increased from RM350 to RM500,” she said.
Fatimah said up to the second quarter of this year, a total of 186 individuals or 71.81 per cent of children placed at various welfare institutions in Sarawak had been given continuous training to help them lead an independent life upon leaving these institutions.
Under the welfare microentrepreneurs scheme, she said various entrepreneurs had registered combined sales worth over RM6.47 million between January and July this year.
She said the sales were the joint efforts of 228 new entrepreneurs, 1,229 entrepreneurs under guidance, and 30 licensed entrepreneurs.
She said the state government had micro assistance worth RM500 for women in Sarawak, particularly single mothers.
She added that such assistance would be distributed to eligible recipients in every 82 state constituencies for this year up to 2025. In this regard, she advised women in Sarawak to capitalise on the government assistance provided for them.
“Be more aggressive and resourceful in getting government assistance. Despite concerns about the economy, when it comes to assisting the poor folks, we continue to reach out to them.
“We want to see the underprivileged group continue receiving education and skills training so that they can increase their household income,” she said.
Meanwhile, Fatimah announced that Norita Bawi had retired as Sarawak Women and Family Department director effective July 31 this year, adding that Salmah Jobeli is now the new department’s director effective Aug 1.