SITIAWAN, Jan 16 (Bernama) — The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry should review the method used in the ‘e-Kasih Programme’ particularly in determining the number of poor and hardcore poor families because it is found to be inaccurate, said Perak Menteri Datuk Seri Dr Zambry 
He said the inaccurate report by the ministry occurred in Perak when it issued a report stating that up to November last year, the ministry had succeeded in eradicating hardcore poor families in the state.
“Recently, the ministry had stated that there were no longer any hardcore poor families in the state as a result of various projects undertaken over the past several years. However, based on an observation by the state government including through our records, the problem actually still exists,” he told reporters after handing over keys for the House Subsidy Programme at Batu 9, Lekir, here Sunday.
He said he was not sure how the ministry could have said that the poverty issue no longer existed in Perak.
He also said that the state government had detected a number of recipients under the ‘e-Kasih Programme’ who actually did not qualify for the aid under the programme. “As such, the state government is prepared to discuss with the ministry concerned to ensure an appropriate method in identifying those who are truly eligible to be listed as recipients of the aid under the e-Kasih programme,” he said.
He also asked all government agencies and departments involved in the efforts to eradicate poverty in Perak to provide other assistance instead of only providing houses.
He said that the mind and attitude of the hardcore poor families should be changed to ensure that they would no longer want to be poor and continued to be placed in that group in future.
Earlier at the function, 17 people from the Lumut Parliamentary constituency and 20 people from the Beruas Parliamentary constituency received house keys and other essential goods handed over by Zambry, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman for the Lumut division.
The construction cost of RM33,000 for each house was borne fully by Felcra Berhad, Perak Region.
Perak’s big question –poor or not poor?
By ROSHIDI ABU SAMAH
[email protected]
SITIAWAN: The Implementation and Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister’s Department has concluded that Perak has achieved “zero hardcore poor” status but the state government, ironically, believes otherwise.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said there were still poor and hardcore poor families in Perak whose data was not included in e-Kasih database (a national database system to implement and monitor anti-poverty programmes).
As such, he said the state was not satisfied with the conclusion by ICU which was made in November last year.
“I hope the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, which is handling the e-Kasih database, will look again at the statistics of poor and hardcore poor families in Perak.
“The current figures do not reflect the actual number of poor and hardcore poor families in the state,” he said after handing over mock house keys to 37 poor families from Lumut and Beruas yesterday.
Dr Zambry said the state government had also discovered that some families who were registered in the e-Kasih database were not entitled to receive aid.
“We have previously made a request to the ministry for the data to be checked and updated from time to time,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Zambry criticised former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for giving misleading information during a ceramah about a land matter in Kampung Masjid, Pangkor.
He said Nizar should stop making false allegations about the matter which had already been explained at a state assembly meeting last month.
Dr Zambry had told the assembly that the state had decided to buy a piece of land in Kampung Masjid, which was once occupied by 100 hardcore poor families including his mother, to prevent the families from being displaced.
