The Malaysian Way - NGO leads

I am beginning to understand how some things work in Malaysia. What I mean by "work" is how things get done. For example, take the issue of registering disabled children / people. We know for a fact that we have a problem with this issue and only about ( a guess estimate of) 0.5% of the 6% of Malaysian population who are disabled were registered. An indication of the lack of commitment to register disabled people in Malaysia wholeheartedly.

Recently in an egroup list posting for disabled persons in Malaysia, a member sought advice on how to register his friend's disabled relative. A representative from an NGO in Penang (I am not putting the name of that organisation here because I have not contacted the representative yet), informed the egroup that they had organised a registration drive for the day, as mentioned here:

Our organisation recently organised a One-Stop Registration Drive for the Disabled in Penang. This is the 3rd time that we have organised this over the past 5 years. We utilised student manpower from USM to assist with filling out of forms, organising crowds etc... We arranged for 3 Welfare Officers, 3 doctors and 2 Sp. Education Dept Officers to be in attendance and that sped up the entire process which enabled us to register 60 people in one whole day.

How did that NGO from Penang managed to come up with this registration drive? I assume that the financial backing come from charitable funds and volunteerism. It would be good to find out more about this. Can you see the pattern emerging of how things get done in Malaysia, especially when it is to do with social work?

Registration of disabled people is a crucial matter. When we do not have the statistics of how many disabled people exist in Malaysia, it had proved to be difficult to request, for example, accessible housing and transportation. Or even accessible parking spacess. The quoted United Nations figure is somewhere from 6 to 10% of a country's population, but we only have an unofficial figure of 0.5% quoted sometime ago, I believe from the registration that the Welfare Department had conducted so far. And during the last census, it was common knowledge that not all households were asked whether there are disabled people in their houses and the effort to register via census was not comprehensive. ( I checked again, I could not find official statistics of how many disabled people registered in the country. Perhaps I have to contact the Welfare Department personnally via post to find this out.)

Another interesting aspect with the Government's ministry concern is that it has to managed so many social services, as indicated (in Malay) below. The Welfare Department within the ministry manages affairs for disabled people, children, elderly, youth and of course women and girls. Apart from that they also manage disasters (?), the poor and destitute and orphans. That is really a lot of work for a government department. In the UK, disabled people are being managed by all ministries concerned. (See link.) At first they had a Ministry for Disabled People, but now they do not have to. Ever since the Disability Discrimination Act and Bill had been enforced since 2004.

For Malaysia, it is evident that work for disabled people is felt more through NGOs. Historically, a council was set up in 1966 under the Welfare Department, in which the advisor is the Welfare Department's Director-General : See The National Council of Welfare and Social Development Malaysia. There are 44 affiliated organisations that benefit from the ministry. However, that particular NGO from Penang is not one of them.

Another good source of information is a report by the Malaysian Council for Rehabilitation found in a Japanese website, if you want to learn some more. (See link.)

From the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development's website:

Bahagian Pemulihan

Objektif:

Merancang program dan keperluan yang berkaitan dengan pemulihan remaja yang bermasalah akhlak, wanita dan gadis yang terdedah kepada kegiatan tidak bermoral dan orang kurang upaya yang memerlukan jagaan, latihan kemahiran dan pemulihan yang bersesuaian ke arah hidup berdikari.
Mengendalikan bantuan kewangan untuk meningkatkan kesejahteraan hidup keluarga, kanak-kanak, warga tua dan orang kurang upaya yang tidak berkemampuan.
Mendaftar dan membantu pemulihan mangsa bencana yang memerlukan bantuan.

Aktiviti:
Untuk mencapai objektif tersebut, bahagian ini melaksanakan aktivitinya melalui perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan tersebut:

Pengurusan Orang Kurang Upaya (luar & Institusi)
Pengurusan Wanita dan Gadis (luar & Institusi)
Pengurusan Kanak-kanak yang memerlukan perlindungan & pemulihan (luar & Institusi)
Pengurusan Bencana
Bantuan Kewangan

Bahagian Perlindungan

Objektif:

Membantu, melindungi dan memulihkan kanak-kanak, warga tua, pesakit melarat, orang kurang upaya terlatih dan ahli-ahli keluarga yang menghadapi masalah, mempertingkatkan kualiti dan taraf hidup mereka, supaya mereka dapat berdikari dengan memberi jagaan, pemulihan, pendidikan dan latihan kemahiran yang sesuai.

Aktiviti:
Untuk mencapai objektif tersebut, bahagian ini melaksanakan aktivitinya melalui 5 urusan iaitu:

Urusan Kanak-kanak
Urusan Orang Papa
Urusan Warga Tua dan Pesakit Melarat
Urusan Anak Pelihara
Urusan Keluarga
Urusan Orang Kurang Upaya Terlatih