The Poor must Help Themselves...while the politicians help themselves to what they want of our nation's wealth? Ptui!

Mohd Arshad Raji Raji

Datuk Hafidzah Hassan is one who does not really understand the plight and sufferings of the urban poor, because she sits in the comfort of her luxurious home and air conditioned office. Even her car that takes her to wherever she wants to go is airconditioned. Tell me this....how do you expect the poor to help themselves when they have nothing with them. And you want them to come down seeking help from the relevant government authorities. If you want to see how these urban p...
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The poor must help themselves, ministry says

PETALING JAYA, Jan 23 — The poor should seek long term solutions to elevate their status in society. Datuk Hafidzah Hassan, secretary of the urban well-being department under the purview of the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government

themalaymailonline.com

steadyaku47 comment: I am in agreement with Pak Arshad on the above and may I add my own comment to his.

In Australia...Melbourne to be more precise...where I now call home...I and my wife would be among the poor.  We live on our pension and nothing else. So let me share with you our experience in living among the poor here in Australia. 

A roof over our head : This would be the most important item for those of us who are poor. We live in a compact (that means small)  two bedroom "government/public housing" apartment complex  where rent is pegged at 30% of our total income. Affordable and secure.

Food : We have all that we need and can virtually eat what we want and desire...within reason.

Medical : As pensioners almost all our normal medical needs are covered under Medicare or subsidized. It is the unexpected medical expenses that can be difficult for us to afford....the recent hospitalization of my wife for chronic bed sore was a case in point. And the subsequent expenses needed to care for her at home was difficult but not impossible to meet. But the government does assist financially in these circumstances and we are in the process of applying for that help.

Everything else is within our ability to adjust to, if not afford.

What happens if despite everything we literally run out of food to eat?

Many options for us to go to for help. Around where I Iive there are at least three outlets - two Churches and one Aid Organization  - where you can go to get emergency relief for food. You go there and there will give you enough food to keep you going for two to three days. Every evening beneath the apartment where I live, the Food Van will come at 7.30 pm  and you can get enough food to feed you and anyone else in the house for that evening. Hot delicious food. Hell even if we have enough food to eat that night I still do go down there to get the pies...so bloody delicious!

If you want breakfast...right across the streets where I live....there is a place I can go to every morning to have breakfast for free. And there is even a mobile laundry parked outside that building during breakfast for you to wash your clothes...for free.

What about the other "needs" and "wants" of life? The needs are all taken care of by our pension....the "wants" I have learned to do without. No new car, no dining out at fancy restaurants, no branded clothing's, no holidays (who needs holidays when you are living in Melbourne) no "spur of the moment" shopping or buying of things we do not really need.

Can we elevate our status in society? We are happy where we are. No stress, no pressure, no peer pressure....and most precious of all to my peace of mind ...no Umno politics or politicians around! Which means nobody has any sense of entitlement and of course...no corruption too!

And do we have any complains with the government for not doing enough? Not really....as I have said, we have all that we need.

So can you fault us for wanting to stay here in Melbourne?