SIBU: The Social Welfare Department (JKM) here will transfer an elderly couple and their grandchildren to a government care home, says Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
The Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development said Ting Kie Ping, 80, and his wife Chieng Suk Hung, 70, would be placed at Rumah Sri Kenangan.
“Ting (husband) is the recipient of a RM500 monthly assistance from JKM.
“They need a more comfortable and safer place to live because the place they live in now is dilapidated, and there is no electricity,” Fatimah said.
“The grandchildren who are in the care of the couple will be placed in the Children’s Home,” she said when met by the media during a visit to the couple’s house at 17C, Jalan Tong Sang here on Tuesday (Sept 20).
Fatimah noted that JKM would track down the boy’s mother to ensure documentation as it is important for the boy in the future, especially involving his education later on.
“They have lost contact with the mother. No matter what, we need to find the mother any way we can, through social media, hopefully, she will approach us and we can talk.
“We want to save this boy and we want to protect him. We can suggest a more conducive and safer place for this boy and he can go to school, so it doesn’t affect his future.
“We have no choice but to intervene. We are also not sure whether the boy has a birth certificate or not,” the Dalat assemblywoman said.
Fatimah thanked the media and the public for spreading information about the sufferings of the elderly couple.
“We urge the public to inform JKM if they find more cases like this. The state government will always try to help them.”
