File photo of the victims’ current house at Kampung Paon Rimu Bakung, some 30km from Serian Town.
KUCHING: The state government has approved an amount of RM68,000 to build a house for the family members of the late Monica and Jackson Mazlan under the Bantuan Rumah Rakyat Miskin programme.
Monica and Jackson succumbed to the rabies virus after they were bitten by a rabid dog last month.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas told The Borneo Post that Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg had personally told him the good news yesterday.
“Yes, CM has agreed to help the victims’ family to build the house as the present house where they have been staying is not suitable for the family to live comfortably as it lacks a proper living room, kitchen and toilets,” Uggah told The Borneo Post at his residence here last night.
He added that numerous NGOs also came to the assistance of the family, including the Chief Minister himself.
The late children’s father is an odd job worker while their mother is a housewife.
Besides the two, the couple have four other children aged between two and 12.
They have been living in poverty at Kampung Paon Rimu Bakung until the family were thrown into the limelight with the passing of Monica, six, and Jackson, four, on Tuesday due to the rabies virus at the Sarawak General Hospital.
Subsequently, The Borneo Post found out from their relatives that if the family had RM40 on the day of the incident in April, the two children could have been saved.
Besides the two children, the couple have four other children, aged between two and 12. Their father is an odd job worker and their mother, a housewife.
Uggah who has been tasked to look after the Rural Transformation Programme which include the eradication of poverty in the state, pointed out that the late Monica’s and Jackson’s family was among the 1.6 per cent population of Sarawak which falls under the rural poverty category.
The overall incidence of poverty in Sarawak now stands at 0.9 per cent based on 2014 findings.
On the programme of poverty eradication in the state, Uggah who is also Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development said the state policy has been consistent in its mission to eradicate poverty in the long run.
“We have a mechanism in place to assist those living in poverty but the issue is quite complex as it tend to include social issue as well as lack of education,” he said.
As such, he said, the government will continue to provide proper education and other social engagements with the poor families to ensure that they would allow their children to be properly educated.