RM35 food packs from NGOs, not Social Welfare Dept - minister

CORONAVIRUS | Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has refuted allegations that the government is providing food aid not worth the budgeted RM100 per pack.

Instead, he said this is aid from NGOs sent to the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for distribution.

Previously, Rasah MP Cha Kee Chin had claimed that 150 food packs his team received for distribution from the government, were only worth RM35 each.

"There were some reports that (the food packs) were just RM35, this was posted by certain individuals on social media," Ismail said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

"The Women, Family, and Community Development Minister (Rina Harun) has informed that food collection centres also receive food from NGOs and such, which the government does not regulate how much their aid should cost.

"So we were informed by the minister that these (food packs below RM100) were not from the SWD," he added.

The Perikatan Nasional government had promised to deliver 1,000 food packs for the B40 lower-income group to each Parliament constituency, to help them see through the movement control order (MCO) period.

However, opposition MPs have accused the government of politicking the aid, by either stymying delivery in opposition areas, or putting PN grassroots leaders in charge of distribution.

One example highlighted by Malaysiakini on April 23 was Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai expressing outrage that over 700 government-sponsored Covid-19 food packs were found still sitting in the Bandar Tun Razak Sports Complex in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

This was despite Tan having earlier expressed concern that the food packs were left undistributed on April 19, and that the authorities had not given him the green light to distribute the food aid to his constituents.

Tan claimed that there were double standards in the permission given to MPs to distribute the aid, noting how Bandar Tun Razak MP Kamaruddin Jaffar, who is a member of the ruling coalition, had obtained approval from the SWD to distribute food packs.

He also refuted a claim by Rina that nobody is sidelined in terms of aid distribution during the MCO period.

Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has said the blame for this matter lies on the minister in charge, and not the SWD. - Mkini