KUALA LUMPUR – Residents of the Kota Warisan People’s Housing Project (PPR), a low-cost public housing estate in Selayang, Selangor, are facing the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic and its related economic crisis.
It seems that the various stimulus and welfare packages rolled out by the Perikatan Nasional administration have had little effect on the community in this packed strata property.
According to Selayang MP William Leong, 16 families suffered coronavirus infections this month alone.
When The Vibes visited the flats following a recent welfare visit by Leong, we chanced upon a man working at a food stall who guided us through the dark corridors of the PPR to meet a community head there.
Doors left ajar revealed cramped two-room homes with at least five occupants in each.
Loss of income, freedom
Muhd Razi Ali touts himself as a community leader at the Kota Warisan PPR. He lives with his wife and four children, one of whom is 17-year-old Nazrul Amirul, an aspiring muay thai fighter.
Before the pandemic, Razi earned an income by manning a food stall. His livelihood went downhill after March 2020.
“I owned a stall before the pandemic, but when the virus hit, I couldn’t work because I couldn’t cross state lines for supplies,” he told The Vibes.
I understand that with this lockdown, the government is doing the right thing – but the people are badly affected.”
He said it is not only his family that are facing problems, as others at the PPR, too, have complained about lacking in both income and necessary supplies.
Asked if the government’s stimulus and welfare packages have helped, he said: “They are not enough. The stimulus is far from enough.
“The government is not really helping the people. What is their role now? We are not only financially down, but we can’t go anywhere, too.”
Three deaths in a family
Before she tested positive for the coronavirus on May 27, Yim Nyok Moi worked with her husband selling noodles at a stall.
She was not the only one in her family who got infected. Her husband, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and 17-year-old daughter Woong Kar, too, tested positive.
In the end, only Yim and her daughter survived.
The Vibes met Yim only five days after she was discharged from Selayang Hospital.
“Yim and her husband used to sell noodles for a living. Now that her husband is gone, she does not know what to do,” said Leong, who was present to provide aid.
I have asked her to come to my office to see what we can do to help. But the main point here is, their breadwinner has passed away.
“The government needs to act quickly. For each day’s delay, more people die.”
Tarmizi Kamaruddin, an assistant to Taman Templer assemblyman Sany Hamzan, said the Selangor government will give Yim assistance under its Skim Mesra Usia Emas, which provides a RM500 bereavement aid to senior citizens.
Barely getting by
Nurazura Hamzah, another Kota Warisan PPR resident, is a single mother who lost her husband in an accident around two years ago.
She has three children, two of whom live with her: one child who is still in school, and a son who helps out at a restaurant. Her other child, a daughter, moved out after getting married.
“Before the pandemic, we were barely getting by,” said Nurazura.
My son, who helps out at a restaurant to earn some money, gets a daily wage of RM30 or RM40, depending on his boss.”
She said they have outstanding utility bills, and that she sometimes has to rely on zakat aid to survive.
Asked about her situation after the pandemic struck and a lockdown was imposed nationwide, Nurazura said: “I have been down, really down.”
On whether Putrajaya’s stimulus and welfare packages have helped ease her plight, she expressed a view similar to Razi’s.
“I can’t say it (the packages) has changed my life. The aid is not enough, especially taking into account the price of things now.
“Previously, RM100 was enough for kitchen supplies. But now, RM50 is no different from RM5.” – The Vibes, June 20, 2021
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