KUALA LUMPUR, 7 July: Not possessing an identification card (IC) is the biggest problem faced by the hardcore poor people in the city of Kuala Lumpur, who are homeless, making it difficult for them to obtain better jobs.
One of them, who only wanted to be known as Abang Din, said that when they flee in haste from being caught, their bags, containing their MyKad, clothing and other important items, are left as they are in a state of panic.
“When the authorities find our bags, they rummage through our bags and throw our things around, like rubbish, including our identification cards,” said Abang Din when met by Selangor Kini near Bangkok Bank.
Abang Din explained that some who suffered the same fate of losing their MyKads do not apply for a new one because they are unable to pay the high fine imposed by the National Registration Department (NRD).
A spokesman for the Dapur Jalanan group of volunteers that distribute food to the city’s hardcore poor people, Wong Kar Fai, also confirmed that this was also said by many of the urban hardcore poor who make the five-foot ways of Kuala Lumpur city their beds.
“This is nothing new. Many have said the same thing. Some of them keep their bags nearby and there even some who hide their bags before sleeping. However, the authorities find their bags and it is then rummaged through, kicked and thrown away like trash.
“This makes it difficult for them to get better jobs because they have no MyKads. Even if there are employers who accept them, their only intention is to manipulate their energy by giving very low wages with their reason being that they do not have MyKads,” he told Selangor Kini.
He added that the situation which makes things worse is when the National Registration Department (NRD) imposes a high fine, from RM100 for those who lost their MyKads for the first time to RM500, depending on the number of times lost, causing this group to not be able to pay it.
NS
