Ipoh City Council On The Lookout For The Sudden Poor

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Ipoh mayor Rumaizi Baharin (in suit) handing the aid to Ahmad Irwan Othman at the press conference. (Bernama pic)IPOH: The Ipoh City Council (MBI) is tracking down hard-pressed residents in order to deliver much-needed assistance to them as they have suddenly fallen into the “poor” category as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the movement control orders.
Ipoh mayor Rumaizi Baharin said MBI was focusing on this group after detecting an increase in families whose incomes had been affected due to the loss of jobs and businesses which were not allowed to operate at this time.
“The current focus of our ‘direct’ subsidy is on the urban poor. We received reports, for example, of a man who used to have a job with an income of RM4,000 to RM5,000 a month but now he has no income and is unable to pay his car loan, rent and so on.
“Under this current focus, we will provide immediate assistance to them. We do not want to hear that in Ipoh there are those suffering food shortages. We are also thinking of other assistance that can be rendered,” he said.
Rumaizi said this at a press conference after presenting food items by MBI and Boba Tea Sdn Bhd in collaboration with Perak Media Sports & Welfare Club to representatives of Gerbang Malam market traders who are still not allowed to operate during Phase Two of the national recovery plan (PPN).
However, he did not disclose the number of people who had fallen into sudden poverty, but believes there many living in the city centre, based on reports he received.
Rumaizi said his team was looking into several other forms of assistance including donations for children of affected families who needed gadgets to follow the home-based teaching and learning method as well as assistance to those who had difficulty paying rent in an effort to save residents from becoming homeless.
Earlier, a total of 125 packs of dry and wet food, under the MBI Prihatin programme, were presented to representatives of Gerbang Malam traders in front of the MBI meeting hall.
Gerbang Malam entrepreneur welfare chairman Ahmad Irwan Othman said the Gerbang Malam traders had to abide by the directive which did not allow them to conduct business even though Perak has entered Phase Two of the recovery plan.
“Many traders have to run other businesses to cover living costs, and this includes myself, because they cannot depend on online sales alone. In addition to selling food, there are also traders who work as food delivery runners.
“However, not all traders are able to run other businesses because there are also older traders who are less skilled at doing online sales,” he said.
He added that Gerbang Malam, which is one of the popular attractions in Ipoh city drawing visitors from out of state, is now quiet and desolate.- FMT

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