Perak Assembly: Bureaucracy delaying poverty, B40 programmes, state reps claim

IPOH, March 29 (Bernama) -- Bureaucracy and weakness in the relevant agencies’ delivery service systems have caused projects and improvement programmes related to the welfare of the hardcore poor and lower-income (B40) group in Perak, to be stagnant and delayed for many years.

During the debate session at the Perak State Assembly sitting today, several state assemblymen raised the problems that arose that caused the approved projects such as affordable housing have not begun despite getting approval.

“A family’s house almost collapsed in my constituency. I forwarded (to build affordable houses) to the government and received approval, but the construction has not started.

 “To the responsible parties, we need to work as a team because we have good policy, but the implementation is taken lightly. It affects the government that governs until it damages the image and perception,” he said.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Jamilah Zakaria (BN-Trong) described the problem of delivery and inefficient services has led to the perception that elected representatives only work in the run-up to the general election (GE).

“The rakyat is asking when (the government) wants to complete (the development project). Do we need to wait for GE to start (construction)?  This must be discussed. Should find a solution and manage the problem until the end. Villagers will think that we are not doing our duty (as representatives),” she stressed.

Teoh Yee Chern (DAP-Astaka) also shared his bitter experiences at a district and land office to send applications but was greeted with a quiet atmosphere as he was informed that most of the staff were out or not working although it was not break time.

Hasnul Zulkarnaain Abdul Munaim (BEBAS-Titi Serong) wants the human resource division to fill up important vacancies such as assistant district officers posts immediately to ensure smooth implementation of the people’s development programme.

Meanwhile, Perak Women Development, Family and Community Welfare Committee chairman Datuk Dr Wan Norashikin Wan Nordin told the assembly that the state government is in the process of developing and completing a database for the B40 group to improve the welfare of this group at the state level.

She said the state government will use the data from the National Database on Poverty (eKasih) which had been established at the national level for reference as well as to collect new information from the agencies involved.

"The data has been collected by the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) at the Prime Minister's Department (JPM). To coordinate all this information in ensuring that no individual is left behind to receive assistance, we are in the process of completing (a system) and it will take some time because it requires the close cooperation of all departments from the federal or state governments," she said.

Wan Norashikin said this during an oral question-and-answer session in response to a supplementary question from Jenny Choi Tsi Jen (PH-Canning) who wanted to know about the data information system on the B40 group for the purpose of facilitating the welfare management process.

Wan Norashikin added that the state government always ensures that the needs of this group are sufficiently taken care of and that it obtains the same or equivalent social benefits as other groups.

Earlier, while answering an oral question from Datuk Zainun Mat Noor (BN-Chenderoh) on the free ambulance service for B40 homebound patients, Wan Norashikin said it was provided under the Malaysia Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 involving services between medical facilities regardless of the patient’s background.

-- BERNAMA