KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 – The Rural and Regional Development Ministry must explain why welfare aid has only been handed out to half the hardcore poor families in Penang, Lim Guan Eng said today.
The Penang chief minister (picture) questioned why just 301 such families had received aid under the ministry’s People’s Welfare Development Scheme (SPKR) when there were more than 700 hardcore poor families in the state.
This comes following a clarification by ministry advisor Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman that the RM1.1 million had been disbursed to 301 families and not 22, as reported in 2009.
The earlier report had prompted Lim to accuse officials in charge of the scheme of misappropriating funds, a claim Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has denied.
“It must be asked why only 301 families benefited when there are over 700 hardcore poor families in Penang. Why have these other 400 families not received attention from Datuk Zainal’s ministry?” Lim said in a statement.
The DAP secretary-general also asked the ministry to explain how it selected candidates in Penang for aid under SPKR, which aims to help both the poor and hardcore poor.
He pointed out that only 3,938 families throughout the state had been picked to receive welfare even though there were many others in Penang who were in need of similar help.
Lim added that state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh, who had lodged a police report over the alleged misappropriation of SPKR funds in 2009, has been tasked with obtaining the details of the 3,938 families said to have received aid.
This was to ensure that the names of the family members in question matched the state’s list of poor and hardcore poor, he said.
Putrajaya has allocated RM53.6 million annually to provide aid to some 21,700 people in Penang, consisting of the poor, elderly, handicapped, single mothers and underprivileged through the 1Malaysia anti-poverty programme (KAR1SMA).
During the tabling of the Budget 2012, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said about 500,000 people nationwide would benefit from new funding for the programme.
Under KAR1SMA, RM300 a month will be distributed to poor senior citizens and RM100 a month to poor children, with other forms of assistance for those who are disabled.
