New policy robs disabled of a Happy Deepavali

(Malaysiakini) It will be a sad Deepavali celebration for many disabled people in Malaysia tomorrow as they have stopped receiving their monthly welfare payments since July.

Despite protests last month by about over two dozen individuals in October, the NGO for the disabled community, Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC), said their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

ILTC head Francis Siva (left) said that many disabled have called him in distress this morning to complain that the RM300 a month allowance, useful for buying medicine and other living needs, was not restored as promised.

Social Welfare Department (JKM) officials had told the group last month that to receive their allowance, the disabled had to present themselves at JKM offices, fill in a multi-page form, get various supporting documents, and do this every year.

"They expect us to crawl to their office to get this information - what is this?" Francis said.

"After holding a protest on October 23 at the JKM branch office in Gombak, the government agreed to help sort out the problem but as of this morning, many still have not received their money."

One explanation given by JKM was that the department was tightening up the handout system after the auditor-general report of 2012 cited that welfare handouts were being channelled to the deceased or to dormant accounts, due to poor recordkeeping.

Disabled workers who are employed but earning below RM1,200, were paid an allowance of RM300 a month to top-up their salary in the welfare scheme which has been around for some seven years, Francis said.

Many disabled workers however were unpleasantly surprised in July when the money was not banked in.

After waiting two more months, they realised that something may have changed and many called JKM but were stonewalled.

"If they have a new policy, they should consult us first ...if they suddenly terminate our money, how are we going to live? We are already a burdened group," Siva said.

When contacted, a Putrajaya-based JKM director refused comment.
'Make things better, not worse'
Siva said the JKM officers, who are abled bodied, should be the ones to go out and visit and check, if they want to audit their welfare payments. He added that leaders in the community could have also been roped in to help.

"They can't justify what they have done...it's a half-baked idea and it's a shameful thing... the welfare department's job is to understand and improve the quality of life for the disabled and not make it worse," said Petaling Jaya city councillor Anthony Thanasayan.

Anthony is the founder of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled.

Both Francis and Anthony said they have now want to meet with Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Rohani Abdul Karim (left).

After they sent in a request six months ago, she scheduled to meet them early last month but cancelled the appointment at the last minute.

PKR MP N Surendran also recently pointed out how the government had quietly cut allocations for the poor, disabled and senior citizens in budget 2014.

Last month, a disabled man resorted to crawling up a flight of stairs in a bid to submit a memorandum to the Kulim Welfare Department (JKM) after its director snubbed his association.