Earlier this month, a 36-year-old mother was sentenced to a day’s jail and fined RM200 for stealing a 2kg pack of Milo at a supermarket in Kuala Lumpur. The Milo was for her two-year-old child.
Last week, we read about a father of three who was caught shoplifting RM27 worth of food at a hypermarket in Bukit Mertajam. The food was for his hungry children. Instead of turning him to the police, the hypermarket manager offered him a job there and money to help him out.
Facebook, too, has shared a few stories of compassion for those in similar situations overseas.
One story is of an Alabama cop giving a woman two truckloads of food after she was caught stealing five eggs to feed her starving family. Another is from Miami, where a Miami-Dade county police officer gave a penniless mother, Jessica Robles, a misdemeanour citation instead of hauling her to jail for carting away with US$300 (RM1,200) worth of groceries. The police officer, Vicki Thomas, also bought Robles US$100 worth of groceries. “Arresting her wasn’t going to solve the problem with her children being hungry”, Thomas had said.
In fact, Robles’ story inspired residents and businesses in Miami to help her out. One month after the incident, she not only has food for her children, but she also has a steady job.
I personally believe that everyone should be punished equally for the same crime. There should be no excuse for committing a criminal offence.
But, I have more sympathy for people who steal to feed their families than those who steal, for example, to supplement their drug use.
It does seem as if stealing was the last resort for the 36-year-old mother in Kuala Lumpur or the father of three in Bukit Mertajam but as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak rightly pointed out in his blog posting, there are many other ways of getting aid and earning a living.
He cited the Welfare Department, which, he said, was ever willing to assist whether in terms of money, advisory services or other means to overcome the challenge and enjoy a better life. As for Muslims, they can get in touch with the Tithes Board to seek assistance.
Najib also encouraged the people to visit the nearest branch of the Manpower Department or go through the website to look at vacancies and job offers available daily. On its website, various job offers for varying levels of qualifications are being offered by the private and public agencies.
But, I have heard of complaints from people seeking financial assistance at these establishments. There are forms to fill and documents to be submitted. Approvals, too, can take quite some time. Some are even discouraged without even trying after hearing of the bureaucratic processes they have to go through.
Perception, some people say, is reality. If people have perceived the services rendered by the agencies as such, it may as well be because that is the truth in people’s minds.
Some things need to be spelt out to the applicants. Verification process, for example, need to be done to ensure that the assistance goes directly to those who are really in need. And, processes take time.
And, there is a possibility that some people don’t know the existence of these services.
Government agencies need to undertake a public relations exercise to inform the public of what is available for them out there.
Take the Urban Transformation Centres (UTC), for example. How many of us know that the UTC is not only a place to make or renew passports and our identity cards? So many other services are offered there under one roof including the Human Resources Ministry’s Jobs Malaysia (registration, matching and advertising of job vacancies) and SPOKU (registration and job matching for the Handicapped).
It is, however, understandable if the government does not want to spend on such exercises, which detractors could deem as futile, as the money could be spent on something more rewarding for the public, but it can look at other avenues to disseminate information.
It can for example use the offices of more than the 500 state assemblymen nationwide. They can be the conduit between the agencies and those in need of assistance. I know of some state assemblymen who have gone out of their way to help those in need, seeking the help of their corporate friends to undertake corporate social responsibility programmes to help build or renovate houses for the poor and distributing aid and foodstuff during festive seasons.
In fact, one state assemblyman had offered the use of a vacant space at his office to a family who had been asked to vacate their home when they could no longer pay rent. He put them up temporarily until they could find cheaper accommodation. And, the people he helped were not even voters in his own constituency.
Assistance in whatever form is always available, you just need to know how to find it.
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