KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil called on the government to ensure equitable access to the poverty alleviation and aid programmes as well as data of those in need are the most important thing to address for the Budget 2022.
He said based on his experience as the Lembah Pantai MP to help the constituents wrestling with the economic and social impact of the pandemic, they have to resort to using local contacts and grassroots NGOs.
“Based on my experience in the ground, most debilitating the household of a single breadwinner if they suffered or passed away from Covid-19, how was it that this family can be assisted? Because of the lack of data, people like myself find it difficult. It is really like groping in the dark.
“The only thing we could do is to rely on our local contacts, they could be resident associations, heads of each (low cost apartment) block or women NGOs working the ground to highlight the problems for us.
“This is not an efficient way. My fear is that there are many families left behind,” he said in a Malaysia Gender Responsive Budgeting Series by the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) today.
Fahmi gave an example of the Cerdik Laptop programmes — the government programme to supply 150,000 laptops to help online learning which was marred with lack of data.
“Not all schools get it, we don’t know the criteria to get it, how many families of single mothers received the laptop,” he said.
Fahmi added that the government must enhance the effectiveness of programmes and access so the “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan does not ring hollow.
“This is actually the biggest problem, not just for women and children, but my fear is the wider B40 or now more called B50s
“In many instances I find that without access to an MP or state assemblypersons, people don’t know their rights, the kind of programmes they are eligible for even if they applied, whether they can get the kind of funding or the kind of services afforded or accorded by these programmes.
“Making sure access to these services to these funds and programmes can be more equitable, this is the challenge moving forward,” he said.
