KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah state government has contributed RM10,000 aid to special needs teenager, Muhammad Firdaus Dullah, who was recently found in a state of utter neglect at the Taman Semarak flat in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.
State Community Development and Consumer Affairs minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid, who disclosed this yesterday, said her ministry and Sabah Welfare Department officers had met 15-year-old Muhammad Firdaus and the doctors who were looking after him.
“I met with the doctors and the teenager at the Tengku Jaafar Hospital and offered the State Government contribution for the teenager,” she said.
The group from the State Government also visited the court to learn more about the case involving the disabled teenager’s mother.
Jainab said that during her visit, she learned that the teenager’s mother, Lolanopita Sadi also known as Lola, was originally from Tawau.
She said that Lola’s father was from Tawau while her mother was an Indonesian.
“When Lola’s mother returned to her village, Lola’s father re-married a woman from Putatan. Lola migrated to Peninsular Malaysia and met her first husband, who was Firdaus’ father in 1995. Firdaus was born at the Tengku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban. The parents divorced in 2001,” she said.
“I was informed that Firdaus’ father was a drug addict and he had died,” she said.
Jainab added that Lola had stayed in Seremban and married her second husband.
“Muhammad Firdaus was hyperactive. At the same time, she also borrowed money from ‘Ah long’ and was bringing home RM50 per month after deducting her pay,” she said.
An Immigration team conducting routine checks on illegals found Muhammad Firdaus locked in a room in the unit on June 21.
The teenager only had a tattered and soiled t-shirt on, and was covered in his own faeces and urine.
The entire unit was also littered with bits of polystyrene packs which was believed to have been used by the mother to pack food for him.
On Friday, Lolanopita pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court in Seremban to a charge of neglecting her disabled and mentally challenged son.
She also claimed trial to another charge of causing emotional pain and injury to Muhammad Firdaus before Sessions Court judge B. Jagjit Singh.
She was charged under Sections 31(1)(a) and 33(c) of the Child Act 2001 on Friday.
Lolanopita, who is employed in a catering company in Sepang, had prior to this claimed she did not know who to turn to for help as she worked long and irregular hours.
She also claimed that she could not afford to buy diapers for her son.
Judge Jagjit fixed bail at RM7,000 for both of the charges and fixed re-mention on July 24.
Those convicted under section 31(1)(a) can be fined up to RM20,000, and jailed up to 10 years. Section 33(c) provides a fine of up to RM5,000 or jail up to two years or both.