BY JASNITA AHMAD RANDURAH
KUCHING: Minister of Women, Family, and Community Development Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri visited the family of the late Nurhaslinda Abdullah at Taman Dahlia, Matang here last Thursday.
The purpose of the visit was to hand over the donation of RM5,000 and the remaining money donated by Malaysians as well as present the Penakat Pension and Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) Funeral Management Benefit to the next-of-kin.
Nancy said the contribution was a promise to the family of the late Nurhaslinda even before the crowdfunding.
“I contributed RM5,000 in aid because I know they need the assistance. That was planned before crowdfunding because even though there was crowdfunding, the family still needs it,” she said.
According to the late Nurhaslinda’s father Abdullah Mat, the crowdfunding was very helpful in facilitating to bring his daughter back to the homeland.
He said the total crowdfunding collection was as much as RM69,000 which was successfully collected within a span of approximately seven hours from generosity of Malaysians.
“I feel sadness mixed with joy. I would like to thank Nancy, friends, and all Malaysians, not forgetting the Metro team as well, because this help has brought my beloved daughter back to her homeland,” he said.
Abdullah revealed that his family has tried to contact the authorities to help them in managing the matter.
However, not much was done until a friend suggested for his family to contact Nancy, who together with her officers managed the matter from start to finish.
“We are waiting for the death certificate from the hospital in South Korea to be issued, so the responsible party is still in contact with the Malaysian embassy there,” he said.
Abdullah said his late daughter wanted to find work in South Korea and had flown there in September last year.
On Dec 25, the late Nurhaslinda called her brother earlier that day saying she was not feeling well.
“She asked her brother to buy a ticket to return to Kuching but was unable to since later that same day, we received news from her friend that she breathed her last at 7.58 pm Malaysia time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nancy expressed hopes that cases like these will not be delayed and that the responsible party will take appropriate measures efficiently and quickly.
“I hope this kind of case will not be postponed again, even if not planned. The responsible party must act efficiently and quickly. I see this is what the P193 Santubong Parliamentary office did regarding the death of Nurhaslinda Abdullah,” she said.
This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Education, Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
