KOTA KINABALU: A wedding involving children cannot be taken lightly due to its negative impact, said Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid.
She reminded that the marriage institution requires couples who were matured in order to ensure harmony in their family.
“This attribute is seldom possessed by children,” she said at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.
“The stance of my ministry is that children must be allowed to expand their full potential. Any activities that stop their development, particularly in terms of education and health must be curbed so that they may have a brighter future,” she said.
She also said that her ministry viewed this seriously and had taken steps to stop marriage involving children by carrying out advocacy and education programmes for the target group which are children.
As of October, this year, the ministry’s Safe and Protect campaign was conducted at 35 schools throughout Sabah with participation of 1,500 people involving students, educators, members of parents and teachers associations and parents, she said.
Jainab said that her ministry would also carry out studies with the related agencies for more comprehensive and effective steps to address the issue.
She also said that her ministry viewed seriously offences against children and concurred with the amendment to the Children Act 2001 (Amendment) and Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
“This is the drastic action by the government to curb sexual offences against children and strengthen existing legislations,” she said.
When winding up for her ministry later, Jainab said the Sabah Government had allocated RM140.64 million for supply and RM6.66 million for project implementation to the Community Development and Consumer Affairs Ministry in the 2018 Budget.
The amount allocated is an increase of RM2.24 million or 1.62 percent from last year, she said.
She said the State Government had also provided her ministry with special funds, comprising of RM5 million to improve women and single mothers’ economic status; RM6 million for senior citizens; and RM8 million for people with disability which also include the provision of disabled people friendly facilities in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau.
Additionally, the ministry also received the 2017 Chief Minister’s special fund of RM20 million, which was approved to carry out welfare programmes and activities, she said.
The special fund was used to create the Information Centre and Quranis Academy for the disabled, which is a first in Sabah and Malaysia, she said.
Aside from that, the special fund was also used for the Sabah Cheshire Mobility project, which provides accessibility to wheelchair-bound disabled people and the elderly in Kota Kinabalu.
For this purpose, two vans have been purchased and are being fitted with a loader. The service will be rendered starting March next year, she said.
Jainab explained that her ministry will use RM12 million to continue providing social services assistance programme to primary one to primary six students (275,892 students at 1,072 schools) next year.
The assistance will be in the form of school uniforms, school shoes, stationeries and exercise books, she said.
At the same time, her ministry will also continue with its Family and Community Empowerment Programme which was launched in Kampung Likas in November 2016.
The programme has been extended to Kampung Rancangan Klias, Beaufort, this year.
Additionally, the ministry will also continue with its Sunday Family Ride programme which was first introduced in November 2015.
Jainab also said that her ministry, through the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK), has continued to monitor the prices of goods and carry out consumer awareness programmes to ensure that they are not taken advantage of by business owners.
She added that under the price monitoring programme, a total of 607 goods, comprising of wet, dried and cooked food, were involved.
“The monitoring is carried out to ensure the prices of these goods are controlled and to ensure their continued supply,” she said.
She said the KPDNKK had introduced the Price Catcher application to help consumers obtain information on goods pricing.