MIRI: The family of a fisherman killed by lightning near the shore of Kuala Baram near here last year is surviving on a meagre income of RM15 a day.
INDISCRIMINATE DUMPING: Bayoi points to a picture published in The Borneo Post as proof of indiscriminate dumping by irresponsible individuals.
The family’s plight has been brought to the attention of Pujut assemblyman Andy Chia who visited the family at Piasau Utara 1 here yesterday.
According to the fisherman’s wife, Wahti Abdul Aziz, she had applied for assistance from the Welfare Department on Nov 7 last year, but yet to receive any help.
Chia said he would help talk to the Welfare Department to expedite the provision of financial assistance for the four children of the killed fisherman, Erwan Kepli.
“We will check with the department why the money has not been banked into their account yet,” he added.
He believed the RM400 assistance from the department would help supplement Wahti’s average monthly income of RM500 to alleviate the family’s financial problems.
Chia said residents in the area did their part to assist the family in terms of finance through fund-raising activities.
“We will see what we can do to help the family from time to time,” he told reporters during the visit.
Erwan died on May 14 and he is survived by his wife and four children – a girl aged 11 and three boys, aged nine, eight and five.
Wahti said her three older children were now staying at Kompleks Kebajikan Hamidah, Bandar Baru Permyjaya, Tudan while the youngest is under her care.
Currently, Wahti and her youngest child are squatting with her parents at Piasau Utara 1.
She works as a kitchen helper at a restaurant in the city and is paid RM15 a day.
Chia was accompanied by Sebastian Ting, political secretary to Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin, Piasau Jaya 1 Neighbourhood Watch committee chairman Razali Sunji and his assistant, Abang Onn Abang Suut.
Chia later handed over a donation from his state assemblyman fund while Ting handed over a similar grant from Chin’s ministry.
Earlier, the assemblyman officiated at the earth-breaking ceremony for a basketball court in Piasau Garden here.