SANDAKAN, April 22 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today announced free replacements of personal identification documents, as well as RM300 in education aid, for Kampung Bahagia fire victims here.
He said National Registration Department (JPN) personnel would be deployed to Kampung Bahagia to process the replacement of destroyed documents through its MEKAR mobile service.
Under the initiative, he said the government would bear the cost of replacing personal identification documents such as MyKad, MyKid, birth certificates, death certificates and non-Muslim marriage certificates, as well as passport replacements handled by the Immigration Department.
“I have requested and discussed with the Home Minister (Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail), the department will come here, (go) around Kampung Bahagia to carry out process,” he told reporters after visiting fire victims at the Taman Batu Sapi PPR Hall temporary relief centre today.
Also present were Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak) Mustapha Sakmud.
On Sunday, a major fire in the village destroyed about 1,000 houses, displacing over 9,000 people.
Meanwhile, Anwar said RM300 in aid under the Education Ministry would be given to 454 Malaysian pupils from 12 schools affected by the fire.
“For schooling, we are providing for every Malaysian child… RM300 for each student, so uniforms, books and such can be replaced immediately. There may be other aid from non-governmental organisations, but I think for immediate needs, we are providing RM300,” he said.
In addition to the cash aid, Anwar also announced flexibility for pupils to temporarily attend school without uniforms to ensure learning is not disrupted.
“I asked the schoolchildren here why they are not attending school, and the answer was that they do not have uniforms. Therefore, they are given flexibility to attend without uniforms, while the Social Welfare Department (JKM) arranges for new uniforms,” he said.
Anwar also said the government would ensure facilities such as transport are provided to allow pupils to attend school.
