KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has recorded the biggest number of welfare assistance recipients in the country at 72,600, according to Jais Asri, the senior assistant director of Welfare Services Department.
He said it is not a good sign to have the highest number of welfare recipients as it shows that many people in the state are still living under the poverty line.
Jais said that in Sabah, those with an income of less than RM960 are categorised as poor and based on the record, 68 per cent of Sabahans are earning less than that amount.
He said the department is receiving about 500 welfare assistance cases daily or about 20 cases from each district in the state.
With only 88 case workers, the department is unable to study the huge number of cases speedily, thus it is currently assisted by 106 temporary workers, he said.
Asri said there are 278,000 senior citizens in Sabah and 47,000 of them are currently receiving the senior citizen assistance.
He said the senior citizens must report to the department every four months to ensure they continue to receive the assistance.
Meanwhile, deputy director of Welfare Services Department, Said Sidup, announced that the department will set up a ‘Desa Bina Diri’ under the Destitute Persons Act 1977 (Act 183) to shelter homeless people soon.
He said the local authorities will carry out operations to identify thee homeless people in the state.
.