Sabah state assembly: Establish shelter for Palauh children, discourage them from begging on streets
ASYIKIN ASMIN28 Nov 2022 12:21pm
Abidin (centre) while attending the Sabah State Assembly in Kota Kinabalu.
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Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the government is taking steps to rescue the children by creating these shelters, of which the pilot project will be in Kota Kinabalu and will be operational later this year.
"The temporary shelter centres will be supervised by the state government through the Home Affairs and Research Office and the Social Welfare Department and assisted by local authorities.
"The pilot project will be implemented in Kota Kinabalu where the state government has already identified a government house that is no longer inhabited as a temporary shelter.
" Operations will start later this year where an immediate allocation of RM250,000 has been made available for the purpose of renovating the house to fit the concept of a temporary shelter centre, " he said.
Abidin was answeing a question by Datuk Ewon Benedick (Upko-Kadamaian) at the state assemblyhere on Monday.He was representing Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
According to Abidin, the shelter will house the Palauh children roaming the streets whether they are alone or have guardians and will be placed in the shelter during during operations carried out by the local authorities on a scheduled or targeted basis.
These street children will be sent to these centres for isolation within a maximum period of up to three months.
"The centre will provide special programmes that will teach skills such as
self-management, community life and informal spiritual learning. After that, the children will be returned to their parents or guardians when the three-month period ends.
"During the repatriation of the child, the parent or guardian will be given a code of conduct warning with caution and the prohibition of reoffending," he said.
In answering additional questions from Datuk Yusof Yacob (BN-Sindumin), Abidin did not deny that the Palauh children who were begging on the streets tarnished Sabah's image in the eyes of tourists.
"So the issue that arises here, is these children are offering services such as offering to carry items and also selling goods and we as Malaysians especially in Sabah should not encourage them to do so.
"If we don't respond to the services that these children provide, of course, they would not offer such services in the future. From what I understand, the local authorities will confiscate their goods when they find out these Palauh children are selling food such as bananas, cakes and so on and they will end up running away.
"But when we buy it, it will encourage them to sell again, so what's important is not just the enforcement from the local authorities but in terms of a strong commitment from us," he said.
