Welfare home a true model of multiracial inclusion

Happy together: The welfare home residents celebrating Chinese New Year during the Covid-19 pandemic. The message on the signs say ‘Thank you for treating us to a meal’.

KUANTAN: The Sang Riang Senior Citizens’ Home has come a long way from a small-scale operation to become a nationally-recognised model of a multiracial welfare home.

The home in Triang, Bera, was recently presented with the Cultural Tourism Award by Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general Datuk Musa Yusof, for providing a harmonious shelter to senior citizens of various races and religions.

It is currently home to 418 senior citizens. The home also provides worship facilities and prayer rooms for residents of Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths, said founder of the home Yap Yoke Moey.

Yap said they take in elderly folk from all over the country, who had been left in hospitals without any next of kin.

“Many suffer from health issues, disabilities and mental illness but they are born as people so we take care of them as people.

“Malaysia is a home for people of different races and religions and it is under this philosophy that we founded this home,” said Yap, while expressing gratitude for the recognition and tremendous support from government agencies over the years.

The home was set up in 2003 and has since expanded to include a haemodialysis centre and a critical care centre.

The facility frequently receives visitors from non-governmental organisations, higher learning institutions and schools, who wish to do charity work or learn about issues surrounding abandoned senior citizens.

“Among schoolchildren, we always stress on the importance of filial piety and not to abandon the elderly. They also observe how we take care of the residents,” said Yap.

Pahang Unity, Tourism and Culture committee chairman Leong Yu Man, who recommended the home for the award, said the management of the home was unique as it accommodated senior citizens of various ethnic groups under one roof.

Leong said as a native of Triang, she had watched the home gradually become a beacon of welfare for so many senior citizens from all over the country.