IN KUALA LUMPUR
THE WOES of the disabled community never seems to end.
As if finding a job was not difficult enough, traveling to work or even for simple chores is not easy.
There are not many disabled-friendly facilities in this country. Besides, for those who do not drive, only a limited number of public buses have facilities for wheelchairs.
Now, to add to their woes is a recent announcement by the none other than the Welfare Department.
The New Straits Times recently highlighted that the department has cancelled welfare aid for those who own television sets at home or subscribe to Astro satellite television.
People who live with those who subscribe to these facilities will also find themselves at the receiving end.
The reason?
Well. According to Shahrizat Jalil, the Women, Family and Community Development Minister: "The underlying principle for welfare aid to the poor and needy is to ensure that their basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, are met.
"As such, the ruling on Astro is applicable because it gives an indication of the affordability of the applicant to spend on something extra, in this case entertainment," Ms Shahrizat, who is in charge of welfare, said.
She explained that the ruling only applied to those under the Disabled Persons Unable to Work scheme, who were being given RM150 per month in aid.
She said Astro was considered a monthly expense that would reduce welfare aid being used for basic needs.
The ruling however does not affect the other two welfare schemes for disabled workers and people caring for a bedridden disabled person, who receive RM300 a month.
The issue came into focus after 73-year-old S Karupanan told the newspaper that he was no longer getting his welfare aid because he was staying with his daughter who has television and Astro service at home. Welfare officers who visited him immediately withdrew the aid when they noticed the little luxury.
Another extreme case was K Shanmugam, 51, who had been applying for the welfare since 2005 but his application was rejected when he confessed to having a television set and Astro facilities at home.
"That's the first question they asked. When I said I had both, they immediately said that I was not eligible for assistance as there were others poorer than me," he said.
But to calm all quarters, Ms Shahrizat promised to review the ruling and introduce more realistic criteria for dispensing aid. She told reporters that a television, a refrigerator and subscribing to an Astro service could no longer be considered luxury items.
"Even a car is no longer a luxury as it has become a necessity now. The system we intend to introduce will be more effective and realistic and reach our target group without giving them a hard time," she said.
She also said she would speak to Astro to provide free services to the disabled as part of the company's corporate social responsibility.
She explained that she understood that most bedridden or paralysed patients have nothing to do but stare at empty walls.
Currently, there are 28,608 disabled people registered with the ministry. Nobody understands why the disabled be denied the right to some entertainment at home.
And Mr Shanmugam's case proves that the ruling has been in place since 2005.
Ms Shahrizat, too, is not new to the ministry. She was the minister from 2001 until she lost her parliamentary seat in the March 8 polls last year.
But she was re-appointed as the minister when new Prime Minister Najib Razak took office earlier this month.
Let's hope that Ms Shahrizat will improve the ministry and ensure that her departments are pro-active.
Otherwise what is the point of having a Welfare Department, if it continues to act on knee-jerk basis, such as this recently highlighted case.