CARING GOVERNMENT: Entri presenting the BR1M 2.0 to the oldest recipient, Puyang Ngau, 107 of Long Teran Kiri in Tinjar.
BELURU: There is a pressing need for community-based rehabilitation centres (PDKs) for special needs people (OKUs) to set up in Marudi and other towns and villages in the area.
Raising this concern, Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri Muran said he would push for such centres to be set up in the area.
“There are already 131 who are registered with the Welfare Department, and I hope more parents will come forward to registered their special needs children with the department to press for the setting up of a PDK in Marudi, and perhaps also in Bakong,” he said.
Entri, who is also Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supply) and Assistant Minister of Farmers Organisation, said Marudi constituency needed more than one PDK to be set up, and a proper database of OKUs here would be vital in identifying the areas which need such centres.
“I am all for PDK to be set up in Marudi town and perhaps another one in Bakong sector, and these would enable OKUs to be rehabilitated and taught to be more self-dependent,” he said at the presentation of BR1M 2.0 at Beluru community hall yesterday.
Entri said PDKs can help OKUs develop their potential, including skills development which could earn income through handicrafts and other products, and this would ultimately empower them to be more self-reliant.
“Please do not be shy, but go register your OKU children with the Welfare Department while I would be pushing for a committee to be establish to set up PDKs,” he said.
The assistant minister said he was ready to help PDK to be set up in Marudi with some financial support through grants but stressed that the set-up must be community-based.
Earlier, he said the presentation of BR1M 2.0 was a reflection of the BN government’s concern for the people.
“There was no BR1M assistance before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came into the picture and this caring leadership and the BN government should be appreciated,” he said.
As such, he hoped the rakyat will continue to support the BN government under Najib’s leadership at the national level and Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in Sarawak.
Also present at the function were Marudi District Officer, Joseph Belayong, heads of government departments and community leaders.
Puyang Ngau, 107, a Kayan from Long Teran Kiri, was the highlight of being possibly the oldest BR1M 2.0 recipient in the state.
Born on Dec 31 in 1906, Puyang was among the 250 recipients who turned up at Beluru yesterday.