KOTA KINABALU – Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin has questioned the delay over a shelter home for stateless street children here, as it was supposed to have become operational last month.
He said Assistant Minister to the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir, who is in charge of Kota Kinabalu City Hall, had announced that the shelter was ready and will be operational on January 31.
“It has been a whole week that stateless children have continued with their shenanigans on busy streets in Kota Kinabalu, knocking on car windows and frightening road users, without a heed for their personal safety,” he said in a statement today.
In November last year, Abidin had told the state assembly that the Sabah government would set up a temporary shelter to house stateless children seen begging on the streets in Kota Kinabalu by the end of last year.
A total of RM250,000 was allocated to renovate an unused government house in the city for this purpose, and it was supposed to be Sabah’s pilot project to stop stateless children from begging on the streets.
Chan, who is also federal deputy minister of agriculture and food security, said that despite being occupied with work in Putrajaya, he had taken time off to follow up on the issue with Kota Kinabalu City Hall, police and Abidin.
He said he was later informed by Abidin that the matter is under the purview of Datuk James Ratib, the newly sworn-in Sabah minister of community development and people’s wellbeing.
“I then contacted Datuk James Ratib, who informed me that they are taking action now to do procurement for food for the children. These stateless kids can then be brought into the shelter soon.
“There should be no further delay in taking these stateless kids in as it would deteriorate the public’s confidence in the Sabah unity government,” he added.
Last month, a video of a child appearing to be hanging onto the side of a moving vehicle went viral, with social media users claiming that it happened in Kota Kinabalu.
Many locals have also claimed to have seen street children going onto the roads, endangering their safety and those of road users.
However, it could not be ascertained if the children are stateless (such as from the Palauh community), or undocumented migrants who have entered Sabah illegally from the Philippines or Indonesia. – The Vibes, February 7, 2023
