IN RESPONSE to caretaker Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari’s statement a few months ago that senior citizens will receive a special RM150 shopping voucher instead of the usual RM100 voucher this year, a large number of senior folk have applied for it.
This year’s RM150 voucher is not based on one’s date of birth, as an exception has been made to this rule.
Many senior citizens aged 60 and above made fresh applications when it was discovered that their old records were not found.
The RM150 will be timely to tide them over during the present difficult times.
Some assemblymen’s office have only two or three employees and cannot handle the few thousand applications from each constituency, which are later sent to the State Secretariat (SUK) for final approval.
This is a long process made more difficult by red tape.
The vouchers can be mailed to the recipients as they cannot be misused or exchanged because of the details on the voucher such as the identity card number of the recipients.
The “Skim Mesra Usia Emas” (SMUE) programme, since its introduction, has not been managed well even after it was converted from the death benefit of RM5,000 and replaced with a yearly RM100 shopping voucher.
Some senior citizens were not aware of this change and did not receive the voucher.
Compare this with the Rahmah programme cash handouts, which are so meticulously done with the help of the Inland Revenue Department, that involves millions of people from the B40 category.
The SMUE scheme needs to be streamlined to ensure that all senior citizens in Selangor get the benefit as intended.
It is time all programmes for the benefit of Selangor residents are solely handled by the state government.
This is to ensure that records and data are not lost whenever there is a change of assemblymen or even state government.
The main flaw with the voucher system is that it is based on whatever records that the state assemblymen’s office have.
Some voters could have become senior citizens after the 2018 general election and there would be no records of them with the assemblyman’s office.
The voucher is and should be for all senior citizens in a constituency, and should not necessarily be limited to voters only.
It will be discriminatory and illegal if it is otherwise.
Data concerning voters can only be accessed from the Election Commission.
It will be a further tedious process.
The scheme can be better handled by the state government’s large number of civil servants.
Now that there is not much time left before polling on Aug 12, the caretaker Mentri Besar should come up with a workable programme to give the vouchers to all Selangor senior citizens who have not received them this year.
V. THOMAS
Sungai Buloh
