A disability rights group has recently labelled Women, Family & Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun as “heartless” following issues with the Welfare Department’s implementation of its cashless monthly aid payment, JKMPay.
One of the major criticisms that the Ministry is facing is for not engaging with the community before implementing the programme.
Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva who was at a protest with several other organisations outside the ministry’s building said that, “JKM Cashless is a nuisance, the minister has no heart for us.”
“At least have some courtesy to ask us what our needs are. They are treating us like animals.”
JKM’s cashless assistance programme was launched in February last year in cooperation with Bank Islam and divides cash aid for the disabled community with half going into a Bank Islam ATM card and the other in a card called JKMPay.
The amount in JKMPay can only be used in selected stores registered with Bank Islam, to which the persons with disabilities community believe will burden people with disabilities as it meant they could only shop at selected stores.
Malaysian Independent Living Association (Milad) member Sia Siew Chin said that on top of the assistance being extremely difficult for the disabled community to use, no prior engagement was done by the ministry to understand how it could benefit them.
“If the minister really cared for us, she would have some discussion on how to benefit in the long run because this (the assistance) does not benefit the system.”
“They (the ministry) should have consulted disability groups before they made any decision,” she said.
At the protest yesterday (25 January), the groups handed their memorandum to Women, Family, and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff.
When asked on when the group would receive a response from the ministry, Siti Zailah responded with “Insyaallah” which sparked an uproar as the group refused to accept the answer.
“We don’t want to accept ‘Insyaallah’, give us a time frame.”
After further pressure from the group, the deputy minister promised to get back to the group within 2 weeks, and said that the matter will be brought to Rina.
“Insyaallah, we will discuss the issue among the top leadership, including the minister, to see how it can be resolved to provide the best care for persons with disabilities,” said Siti Zailah.
We hope that the issue will be resolved as soon as possible.
Is the Ministry in the wrong? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: Disabled M’sian Man Forced to Use Hands to Go Downstairs Due to Constantly Faulty Lifts
