'DBKL identifying public housing tenants to assist with rent arrears'

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is identifying Public Housing (PA) and People’s Housing Project (PPR) flat tenants in the federal capital who are eligible for the Rent Arrears Payment Services Scheme.  

Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad said the initiative was to help tenants who were really in need of assistance to settle their unpaid monthly rent.

“I have asked DBKL to get the list of tenants and do a ‘whitening’ process to identify those who really need assistance. We will try to find them a job and other forms of aid to enable them to settle their rent arrears.

“But for those who are eventually found to own a car and handphone, and subscribing to Astro... living rather luxuriously… we will have to take action as there are many more who qualify to receive assistance,” he said after opening the Malaysia Games Festival @ Kuala Lumpur at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur today.

He noted that DBKL incurred a loss of RM58 million in rent arrears while the monthly rental was only RM124.

“This does not occur since Pakatan Harapan took over the government. There are PA and PPR flat tenants who have not been paying their monthly rent at all from the beginning.

"Even this, we have to carefully tackle as we know there are certain groups who will turn this into a political issue. The problem is, when we want to do something right, it will be politicised,” he said.

Meanwhile, the fifth edition of the Malaysia Games Festival organised by the National Department for Culture and Arts, is aimed at building interest in and preserving traditional games to prevent these from becoming extinct.

With over 1,000 participants from the uniformed bodies and corporate sector, the festival featured 20 traditional games of the country’s various communities such as batu seremban, congkak, sepak raga, blow-piping and tug of war.

- Bernama