Senior citizen population grows at 0.55 pct each year
The population of senior citizens in Sarawak is increasing at a rate of 0.55 per cent each year since 2020, and constitutes 12.6 per cent of state’s total population, said Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.
“As a preparation to face the issue of an aging society in the state, my ministry will carry out a study titled ‘Research on Preparation for An Aging Nation: The Profile of an Ageing Issue Affecting the Elderly in Sarawak’ next year,” she said in her ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.
Fatimah said the population of senior citizens in the state is 311,600 and the ministry has come up with a Sarawak Social Wellbeing Index as part of a wider effort to prepare for an aging society.
Touching on the Kenyalang Gold Card welfare initiative, Fatimah said there are 218,935 cardholders in the state since its launching in 2020, and 10,073 next-of-kin have received death benefit to the tune of RM30.2 million so far.
Fatimah also said her ministry was committed in taking care the welfare of the people with disabilities (PwD) through its ‘One Stop Outreach Registration Centre’ to expedite the registration of the PwD community so that they can enjoy various benefits.
She said a total of 44,801 PwD individuals have been registered under the OKU Information System.
The state government had also allocated RM6.1 million for the development of sports among the OKU community through the Special Olympics, Paralympics and Deaflympics categories this year, she added
Three PwD athletes in the state have been selected to represent the country at the Special Olympics World Games 2023 at Berlin, Germany in June next year.
Fatimah also said that her ministry has approved the setting up of four homeless transit centres (TTG) in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
This was in addition to eight community social support centres in Kuching, Sri Aman, Sibu, Kapit, Mukah, Bintulu, Miri and Lawas to function as an integrated social transformation centre to provide social support and intervention referrals for vulnerable groups.
“To address pertinent social issues affecting vulnerable and risky groups, the ministry is embarking on integrated social support and intervention in the community under the 12th Malaysia Plan (Sarawak Government Budget) and the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 plan,” she said.
As for the management of natural disasters in the state, Fatimah said 37,445 victims had been recorded in 302 locations between Oct 10 and Nov 16 this year in Sibu, Kapit, Bintulu and Miri with RM1.86 million worth of assistance provided.
The ministry has also set up a disaster necessities storage depot in Samarahan, three mini depots in Kuching, Samarahan and Miri, as well as 16 stores at divisional and district welfare offices to face the year-end monsoon, she added.
She also said 627 temporary relocation centres with a capacity of 162,091 individuals had been set up.
In terms of welfare benefits channelled by the ministry from January to October this year, Fatimah said the government had provided monthly assistance with total expenditure of RM205.5 million to 53,040 beneficiaries.
At a press conference later, Fatimah announced that the ministry’s iSarawakCare one-click portal has won the London Design Awards under the category of Digital Government Services. The awards presentation will be held in London next month.
“Living up to its tagline of ‘One Click At Your Service’, the iSarawakCare portal is integrated with existing systems in Sarawak, such as the SarawakNet, SarawakID, state treasury, banks as well as federal government systems to ease the processes across all platforms involved,” said Fatimah.