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NABAWAN: Civil servants were among more than 500 people who turned up to collect their 1Azam allowance letters from Assemblyman Datuk Bobbey Suan recently.
They were among 102 found to be not qualified for the Federal Government assistance as their names were no longer in the latest e-Kasih list of hardcore poor folk.
Bobbey, who is State Assistant Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, said he discovered this when he presented the 1Azam allowance letters to 557 people in Mukim Nabawan, recently.
This happened because the name list used for the 1Azam allowance presentation was that of the e-Kasih First Phase Census in 2000, he said, adding the names of the 102 were already excluded after the latest e-Kasih screening.
“Another thing was that because they used the old list that was produced 10 years ago, there are those who truly deserved the assistance and whose names were just included in the e-Kasih list, who did not get the assistance,” he said.
Some of those listed as recipients for the 1Azam allowance had also passed away, added Bobbey.
He said the problem had cause anger especially among those truly listed in the e-Kasih who even accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders and government of being unfair, which he described as “very bad for the BN image”.
“Probably the authorities concerned were in a rush to complete the whole process (1Azam presentation) just to achieve their respective performance index under the National Key Result Area (NKRA) or so eager to please the Prime Minister, and not the people first, that these things happened,” he said.
According him, his Unit Pemimpin Kemajuan Rakyat (UPKR) had actually written to the State Secretary to report about the old e-Kasih name list that was being used for the presentation of such government assistance but has yet get any feedback about it. The 1Azam allowance is provided by the government and channelled through the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry for hardcore poor folk listed under e-Kasih.
The 1Azam presentation ceremony was organised jointly by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) and the State Poverty Eradication Focus Committee.
The 557 people involved during the presentation in Mukim Nabawan were among 1,524 recipients identified for the 1Azam allowance in the constituency.
Bobbey called on the Federal Ministries and their implementing agencies involved in distributing monetary assistance to needy rural folk go about their work with due diligence.
Doing things in a rush or improperly will not only cause extra burden to those who are supposed to receive government assistance but may also spark anger among the people at the Government, he said in a statement.
“The government is actually sincere in its effort to help the needy through the various assistance provided for themÉbut all these assistance would be useless if not delivered properly and reach the targeted group,” he said.
He hoped the authorities concerned will communicate or coordinate with his UPKR office first before any future presentations of such assistance especially to prevent a recurrence of such problems.
Apart from that, Bobbey also hoped a Post Office representative could also be present with the cash assistance in hand.
This is important particularly when it involves recipients from the remote rural area, he said, adding this is like in the case of Nabawan where most of the 1Azam recipients come from far flung villages, requiring a boat ride to reach the nearest town where there is a Post Office.
“Because for those living in a remote village, it costs about RM350 to charter a boat to the nearest town and to redeem the allowance letter at the Nabawan post officeÉwhat if the post office has run out of cash, which is common, where will the recipient turn to, they definitely will not have anymore money left after that,” he said.
He offered his assistance through his UPKR office to the Post Office to make the payment process easier and convenient for the recipients.