Year: 2021

SEPANG, Dec 29 — Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) Human Resource Division employee, Roslaini Mat Riffin, 50 and her husband Kamaruddin Said panicked when they saw floodwater entering their house in Taman Intan Baiduri here on Dec 18.

Roslaini said it was the first time her housing estate was inundated after settling here in the past 11 years and they only managed to save some important documents.

“Water rose to thigh-level on Wednesday (Dec 22), and they had to clean the house with their children and office colleagues,” she told Bernama after receiving a “Kotak Kasih” (Gift Box) contribution from KKMM secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek, here today.

Roslaini was among the KKMM staff who were affected by the unusual flood in Sepang starting on Dec 18 which caused dozens of victims to suffer property damage and she expressed her appreciation to KKMM for the contribution.

The Kotak Kasih contribution comprising food and personal-care items were presented to 12 families in Sepang, Dengkil and Klang today by Mohammad in their respective homes.

Meanwhile, KKMM Finance Division undersecretary, Hasan Muda thanked KKMM secretary-general for taking time off to visit employees who were affected by the flood.

“I really valued the ministry’s gesture as it is a big help in time like this. The presence of the secretary-general shows he is concerned about the fate of his staff who were caught in the major flood recently,” he said.

Samiyah Mohd Sarip who is an employee of the Malaysian Digital Economic Corporation (MDEC) is grateful to KKMM for the visit and contribution.

“The flood is the worst as I did not expect it to cause so much damage and we were glad to be alive,” she said.

Among those who received the donation were the staff of KKMM, MDEC, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as well as CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM).

They also received cash contributions from Kelab KKMM as well as the KKMM branch of the National Association of Wives of Civil Servants and Women Civil Servants (PCKKMM).

To date, 2,518 KKMM Kotak Kasih were handed over to KKMM employees as well as residents affected by the flood disaster.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

HULU LANGAT, Dec 29 — The Communications and Multimedia Ministry today launched the ‘Operasi Bantu Hingga Selesai’ (Ops BAHIS) to help clean the houses of the flood victims.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said more than 1,000 volunteers would help clean up about 500 flood-affected houses for five days until Sunday.

“We want them (flood victims) to return (to normal life) as soon as possible.

“Volunteers have to make sure that every basic item such as mattresses, pillows and others are replaced with new ones after the cleaning process is completed,” he told reporters when joining 153 volunteers to clean up flood victims’ homes in Sungai Lui near here.

The post-flood clean-up operations are being carried out at three locations badly affected by floods, namely SungaI Lui, Bukit Changgang in Kuala Langat and Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam.

“We have allocated RM500,000 (which was) donated by various parties. This allocation includes a cash aid of RM500 to flood victims,” he said.

Meanwhile, a flood victim Zainal Mohd Rahima, 49, expressed appreciation for the assistance rendered by various parties including Annuar, volunteers and non-governmental organisations to him and other victims.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — A special committee to look into the proposal to abolish the death penalty will soon submit its findings to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

Wan Junaidi in a statement today said he will then present the committee’s findings to the Cabinet and the final decision will be made after the Cabinet has been briefed on the matter.

“There have been repeated calls to abolish the death penalty. As the Minister, my role is to assess the effectiveness of these punishments as a deterrent. We must study this thoroughly before we come to a decision.

“We also need to see if the rehabilitation of convicts, if possible, would be the better option, and in the best interests of the greater society,” he said.

He said the committee was established in 2019 to gauge the public’s response to the proposal as well as to examine the ramifications of such a decision and was asked to look at the issue from several aspects, taking into consideration the views of various stakeholders.

“One critical remit was to evaluate the effectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent,” said the minister.

Meanwhile, he said the study was in consonant with the government’s aspirations to rehabilitate criminals, where possible and later assimilate them back into their respective communities as valuable members of society.

“If they have done their time, paid their dues, show genuine remorse for what they have done and have been completely rehabilitated, we should not close the door on them,” he said.

According to the statement, the bill to amend laws on the death penalty, as well as other relevant laws, is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the third quarter of 2022.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 29 — Three mothers turned up at the National Registration Department (NRD), here, today to request for citizenship documents for their overseas-born children.

This came days after the Court of Appeal dismissed the government’s stay application and ordered the government to issue the children of Malaysian mothers who were born abroad, citizenship documents.

Sharing on what transpired at the NRD, their representative, Family Support and Welfare Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers) president, Suriani Kempe said the NRD officials swiftly facilitated the process to get the citizenship confirmation certificate for these children which would be issued within three months.

After receiving their kid’s citizenship confirmation certificate, the mothers could then apply for the Malaysian identity card, MyKid or MyKad, for their children, she said.

“This is an exciting day. Today’s trip to the NRD breathed life into that decision and confirmed that Malaysian women have the equal right to confer citizenship to their children,” she told the media after accompanying the three mothers, Myra Eliza Mohd Danil, Adlyn Adam Teoh and another who only wanted to be known as Devi, to the NRD.

On Sept 9 (2021), the High Court declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers married to foreigners should be able to automatically pass on their Malaysian citizenship to their children born overseas.

As part of the decision, the High Court ordered the government to issue the relevant documents such as the identity card to these children in recognition of this effect.

Last Wednesday (Dec 22), the Court of Appeal dismissed the government’s application to stay the High Court ruling that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers married to foreigners are entitled to be Malaysian citizens, pending the disposal of an appeal.

The Malaysian government, Home Minister and the NRD director-general as the appellants, filed a stay application pending the hearing of their appeal. The Court of Appeal fixed March 23 next year to hear the appellants’ appeal.

With today’s progress, Suriani advised all affected mothers with a similar predicament to go to the nearest NRD to apply for the MyKad or MyKid for their children.

Myra Eliza, 30, said she had received the overseas birth registration application form and would be submitting it soon.

“As a mother, I am very happy. Since my daughter was four months old, I had tried hard to get a Malaysian citizenship for her but I’ve achieved it only now.

“Before the court’s decision was made, I was very sad as just because I am a woman married to a non-citizen, I could not ‘pass on’ my Malaysian citizenship to my daughter,” she added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — The Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) aims to lift some 3,000 to 5,000 asnaf (tithe recipients) out of poverty next year.

MAIWP chairman Tan Sri Dr Mohd Daud Bakar said the effort would be done through an asnaf development plan which would involve an allocation of between RM30 million and RM50 million a year.

“This is a five-year plan and it will be implemented through various programmes such as industrial training, entrepreneurship and business capital aid as well as educational assistance for asnaf children,” he told a press conference after the closing ceremony of the Kasih PRIHATIN-MAIWP programme here today.

Also present was Yayasan Prihatin Nasional (PRIHATIN) chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Aizudin Ghazali.

Mohd Daud said MAIWP has also planned to organise a graduation programme, symbolic of the asnaf’s journey out of the poverty circle.

In the meantime, a total of 35,719 asnaf have benefited from the Kasih PRIHATIN-MAIWP programme to date.

Mohd Daud said MAIWP had allocated RM3.5 million for the implementation of the programme which aimed to ease the burden of Malaysians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Inland Revenue Board deputy chief executive officer (policy) Datuk Mohd Jaafar Embong said PRIHATIN, in collaboration with DXN, also contributed RM1.56 million for the PRIHATIN x DXN post-flood special mission to assist flood victims in the Federal Territories.

DXN is a company that focuses on the cultivation, manufacturing and marketing of health food supplements, and was founded by Datuk Lim Siow Jin.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SEREMBAN, Dec 29 — A massive total of 1,151 tonnes of post-flood bulk waste was collected in the four districts of the state, with the cleaning operation from Dec 20 to yesterday steered by the Negeri Sembilan Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp).

Its director Mohd Zahir Shari said of the total, 427 tonnes were found in Seremban, Port Dickson had 371 tonnes, Jelebu 309 tonnes and Rembau 44 tonnes, with the aftermath waste consisting of furniture, clothing and electrical equipment.

“The (post-flood) clean-up work is expected to take quite a long time, especially in the rural areas in Jelebu which are badly affected. In the service area covered by SWM Environment Sdn Bhd, flood waste collection in the affected districts has been completed and the focus now is on clearing up drains filled with mud and sediments.

“The rubbish will be sent to domestic landfills while electronic or scheduled waste is to be managed by Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd or recycled by SWCorp. This is because electronic goods need to be disposed of (in a secure environment) through e-Swis (electronic-Scheduled Waste Information System) registration,” he told Bernama here today.

He said the post-flood clean-up operation involved 38 RoRo (Roll On-Roll Off) Bin lorries, 14 open lorries, 14 units of water jets and 17 raking machines as well as the involvement of 204 staff working in collaboration with various agencies at the state and federal government levels, including local authorities (PBT).

Mohd Zahir said among the areas that were the focus for the clean-up operation were the housing and residential parks in each district.

Meanwhile, state Health, Environment, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee chairman S. Veerapan said the process of managing flood waste in Negeri Sembilan, especially in Jelebu, was estimated to be completed within two to three weeks.

Apart from that, he said the state Health Department also carried out sanitation and fogging work in the flood-impacted areas to curb leptospirosis and dengue cases in the stricken areas.

“So far, there is one case suspected to be of waterborne origin but it is still under investigation by us,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — Various companies have offered assistance to victims of the recent massive floods by providing free services to help restore their disrupted lives.

One such company is Artalive Malaysia that specialises in prosthetics and orthotics.

Its Clinical Director Sudarsan Swain said floodwaters can cause damage to prosthetic limbs and repair services are crucial to allow users to continue to cope with their lives.

“We provide free cleaning and maintenance of prosthetic limbs so that users can get on with life as usual,” he told Bernama Radio during an interview here.

Meanwhile, a business-to-business e-commerce marketplace has announced on its portal that it would provide construction material worth RM2,000 to more than 300 affected houses such as paint, cement, floor tiles, PVC doors and wiring as well as machinery rental services (backhoe) and Roll On Roll Off (RORO) bins.

Previously, national carmaker Proton has offered a 20 per cent discount on selected spare parts as well as on labour charges for all customers affected by the flooding.

Meanwhile, Perodua is offering towing service rebates, discounts on selected spare parts and free inspections for Perodua vehicles to all affected Perodua vehicle owners.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency