The ill-effects of the failed policies of the past are getting more acute. If Pakatan Harapan does not tackle these issues firmly, future generations will suffer worse consequences.
These consequences stem from various failures: failure of the education system; failure to help the poor; failure to deal with incompetent civil servants; failure to teach people their basic rights; failure of civil servants to help people with disabilities; failure of the NEP; failure to listen to the rakyat… and more.
Last week, a Langkawi resident told me about the circumstances of two people whose applications for welfare aid had been rejected.
Sharifah is a 22-year-old who has a learning disability and a mental age of a nine or 10-year-old child. She can neither read nor write and has attention deficit disorder (ADD). Her official carer is her 64-year-old mother, “Ibu”, who is also unable to read or write.
The family's sole breadwinner, Ibu's husband, was an odd-jobber. He was diabetic and after he was discharged from the hospital, he fell into a coma and died three weeks later. The family have no other source of income.
Sharifah could receive occupational therapy at the Langkawi Hospital but would first have to be registered. Ibu is reluctant to register her child, because of the social stigma.
Sharifah will have to be registered by a psychiatrist and Ibu, like the rest of the kampung folk, does not think that slow learners have psychiatric problems.
As far as the family is concerned, Sharifah has adequate living and social skills because she can talk, bathe, dress and eat, although she is unable to move around on her own.
Sharifah's brother also has learning difficulties, but he does odd jobs like jaga kereta and grass-cutting. His income is irregular. Sharifah's sister is married to a security guard and they live in the same village.
Sharifah, her mother and brother live in a small, brick kampung house which is devoid of furniture. The neat and clean compound is surrounded by flower bushes and the usual assortment of fruit trees and herbs that one finds in a typical kampung garden.
A local resident, Tunku Sherie and her NGO called Networking Action for Disabled Youths (Nady) have volunteered to assist Sharifah and her mother. Sherie said, "I became involved with Sharifah when Cikgu Aliyah urged me to form an NGO to help her 'graduated wards'."
The term is used to describe pupils who are no longer in school but are unsuitable for the job market.
"They are mostly slow learners. They come from the rural areas and their parents are mostly unemployed or in the lower income bracket. They are unaware that their children have special needs."
Erupted with rage
For the past few months, Tunku Sherie, Nady and some concerned citizens have been buying provisions to help Sharifah's family survive.
Sharifah's previous applications for aid had been rejected for one reason or another but Tunku Sherie has tried to rectify this and has made several trips to the local welfare office to check on their progress.
The rules state that only family members can apply for aid and Tunku Sherie volunteered because none of Sharifah's family could read or write. Every application must be signed by the penghulu (village head) or a member of the village institution, the Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK), or the state assemblyperson before it can be processed.
Tunku Sherie was forced to visit the service centre of the local MP, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to have Sharifah's application form signed because the Kuah assemblyperson was permanently "unavailable". She could not even make an appointment to meet the assemblyperson and she said, "He is a spin-off from Umno. As useless as they come."
When she visited the Langkawi welfare office on Dec 31, she found that neither of the forms, for Sharifah or her mother, had been processed by the officer-in-charge despite submitting them in late November.
He gave lame excuses for his inability to reach Sharifah; his phone was faulty, he was unsure of the location of the house and he was busy. When Tunku Sherie erupted with rage, this officer visited Sharifah that same afternoon. Most Malaysians will empathise with Tunku Sherie.
Has the Welfare Department made special allowances for illiterate Malaysians? Many Malaysian are unaware of their rights and few disabled people know about the Person with Disabilities (PWD) Act 2008.
Tunku Sherie said, "These PWDs are not ready for the job market as they cannot read or write. They need to be rehabilitated for work. The government should assist us and Nady is working to make the provision of this assistance more efficient.
"Many of the poor people in Langkawi, who are mostly farmers, fishermen or odd-job labourers, do not see the need for an education for their children."
Tunku Sherie will write a formal letter of complaint about the welfare officer, but we wonder how many other "Sharifahs" are obstructed by little Napoleons throughout Malaysia.
Despite the claims of Umno-Baru and PAS that they help the Malays and defend Islam, they did nothing to help people like Sharifah and her family.
The poor deserve a hand to help them cope with the grim life they face. So how did this particular family miss out on deserving welfare aid?
And don't forget that there are also many other "Sharifahs" from other races and religions as well.
Will Harapan address the issue of the Little Napoleons and dead wood in the civil service? We will follow the plight of Sharifah and her mother with interest.
Author's Note: Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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