KUALA LUMPUR,  March 27 — The federal government provides more social protection for the poor than the Selangor state government, a minister told the Dewan Rakyat today.

During ministerial question time, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the People's Housing Project (PPR) public housing, free education and the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) cash transfer scheme were some of the many examples of the government's initiative in social welfare.

“Those who are living in PPR, the housing was developed specially for them and were sold at a very low cost. Those who cannot afford to buy can rent it at only RM124. Where can you get at such rate in the Federal Territories?

“The government also provide assistance in schools through various programmes... also there is free education, and extra food provided in schools. Health is also provided for free. If you would calculate the total sum spent, it would be more than the RM200 mentioned by Klang MP,” Subramaniam said.

Dr Subramaniam, however, did not state how much the government had spent on social welfare programmes.

Dr Subramaniam said there has been various initiatives by the government to form a social safety net for the people, which also includes providing nutritious food to the target group.

“A lot has been done, but at the same time we will take the study into account and broaden the assistance as to what has be set by the federal government,” he said.

The Segamat MP was answering an additional question by Klang MP Charles Santiago as to whether Putrajaya would adopt the Smart Selangor Mother’s Love (KISS) programme initiated by the Selangor government, which offers RM200 a month to households earning below RM2,000 monthly. Selangor is helmed by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali from PKR.

Charles had initially asked about measures to be taken by the federal government to improve the health of children living in PPR flats, as mentioned in a recent Unicef report on urban child poverty.

In the Unicef report titled “Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur”, children living in low-cost housing in Kuala Lumpur face higher levels of poverty and malnutrition as compared to the national average.