Welfare Dept to carry out another study on effectiveness of JKMPay after protests, says Rina

PETALING JAYA: The Welfare Department (JKM) will carry out another round of studies on the effectiveness of the cashless monthly assistance for JKMPay for recipients, says Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said.

The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said this was to allow room for improvements to JKMPay while ensuring its efficiency.

"We have seen the effectiveness of JKMPay and, together with partner companies, we can continue to improve the system.

"We have carried out briefings on the programme in several districts in Kelantan and Selangor as not all districts are involved with the programme.

"The aid is to assist the lives of people with disabilities (OKU)," she said after distributing RM 100 each to 25 residents of the Chen Ai Welfare Centre Association in Kelana Jaya on Sunday (Jan 30) in conjunction with Chinese New Year celebrations.

Rina also handed the centre, which has been operating for about a year, an application form to allow the Welfare Department to channel aid.

Earlier, The Star had reported that only new recipients registered with the Welfare Department for cash aid would be subject to JKMPay.

The cashless payment, which was introduced in Feb 2021, does not include existing recipients.

Under this new initiative, recipients would still receive cash aid based on their schemes but it was split into 50% cash and 50% cashless payments.

JKMPay was introduced for recipients to better manage and control their spending, instead of it being used for unnecessary items such as cigarettes or alcohol.

At present, there are 3,722 new cash aid recipients who are participating in the JKMPay programme.

Out of the amount, 1,589 are OKU with 779 receiving Workers' Allowance and 810 who receive aid through the Inability to Work scheme.

Several OKU groups had called on the ministry to review the implementation of JKMPay, which they deemed to be non-beneficial to them.

The groups had also submitted a protest memorandum to Rina in Putrajaya.

The programme was first carried out by the Perlis Welfare Department and three district Social Welfare Offices - in Kubang Pasu and Kota Setar in Kedah and Melaka Tengah in Melaka.

It was then expanded to Perlis, Kedah and Melaka, as well as to Terengganu, Kelantan and Selangor.

The second phase of this programme began early this year, involving Sabah and Labuan, while phase three would kick off in 2023 in all other states.

Recipients of the programme are those under the monthly financial assistance schemes including children, senior citizens, OKU workers, permanent disability care and OKU Inability to Work assistance.