KUALA LUMPUR: Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia, accompanied Singapore First Lady Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam on a visit to the Bangi Autism Service Centre (PPA) near here on Tuesday (July 14).
The visit was held in conjunction with the state visit of Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to Malaysia, which began yesterday, according to a post on Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar's Facebook page.
Jane Ittogi was received on arrival by Her Majesty and Tunku Tun Aminah Sultan Ibrahim.
Also present were the wife of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail; Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri; Deputy Minister Lim Hui Ying; the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Dr Maziah Che Yusoff; and Social Welfare Department director-general Datuk Che Murad Sayang Ramjan.
Raja Zarith Sofiah and Jane Ittogi later toured the centre's key facilities, including the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Room, Occupational Therapy Room and gymnasium, where they observed its holistic approach and daily living skills training for individuals with autism.
In her welcoming remarks, Nancy said 93,199 individuals with autism had been registered with the Social Welfare Department as of last June.
She said the number was expected to continue rising with growing public awareness and better access to screening and diagnostic services.
The visit, which concluded at about 11.30am, further strengthened ties between Malaysia and Singapore while providing an opportunity to exchange best practices in social service development.
The Bangi Autism Service Centre is operated through a strategic partnership between the public sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), namely the National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) and the Damansara Damia community-based rehabilitation centre. – Bernama
