Sibu Autistic Association receives RM5,000 donation

SIBU: The Sibu Autistic Association (SAA) today (June 11) received a donation amounting to RM5,000 from Dudong Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) chairman Wong Ching Yong.
 
According to Wong, the funds were obtained from his recent litigation awards against the Malaysian Institute of Accounting (MIA).
 
“The Federal Court has awarded me RM30,000, and the Court of Appeal has awarded me another RM10,000 after I won against MIA.
 
“I take out RM 5,000 of the total amount and donate it to SAA. So the rest I will pay back to my legal counsel as disbursement,” he said at the cheque presentation at Farley Cafe here today.
 
Wong said that his motivation for supporting the SAA stemmed from their aspiration to construct a dedicated shelter for individuals with autism.
 
“Actually, I have been contacted by our Minister of Women, Early Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah and she said she is ready to help,” added Wong.
 
Meanwhile, SAA president David Ngu expressed his gratitude for the donation and said that they had received approval to commence the project, estimated to cost over RM3 million.
 
“We are going to build the building for our autistic children, as Wong mentioned earlier. So, this project will cost more than RM3 million, and we have received approval to commence it.
 
“As we all know, the number of autistic children is getting higher. In Sibu alone, new cases have been recorded at more than 130 per year. So, this is very common nowadays,” he said.
 
Ngu also said that the formation of SAA is to help the autistic so that they can integrate into the community as soon as possible.
 
“The way they learn is different with us. This is the reason for the formation of SAA: to help them. Our current premises are very limited and can only accommodate a maximum of 50 to 60 people.
 
“As I said just now, the statistic of autistic people is more than 130 cases per year, which means that we need more places to shelter them,” he stressed.
 
The new building, located on a 1.5-acre piece of land adjacent to Agape Centre’s carpark on Jalan Alan, aims to cater to approximately 200 children.
 
The facility’s layout includes an office on the ground floor, classrooms on the first floor, and a therapy hall on the third floor.
 
Also present was Dudong SUPP honorary chairman Datuk Dr Soon Choon Teck.