SEBUYAU, Aug 5 — The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) will rejuvenate its initiative under the Wanita Bangkit@KWPKM programme by introducing more products for sale to the participants.
Its minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said this will provide the women with business opportunities and help elevate them from poverty, so they will not continue to rely on government assistance.
“We will organise a Wanita Bangkit carnival at the end of this year to rejuvenate the programme. We do not want to merely hand out cash aid,” she said at a press conference after the Wanita Bangkit@KPWKM programme earlier today.
Participants at the carnival will be able to add new products to their list of merchandise and thereby increase their existing income.
Nancy said the programme has benefited 6,411 participants nationwide from January to date, this year.
“In Sarawak alone, there are 4,300 participants with an allocation of about RM2.2 million,” she said, adding that Wanita Bangkit@KWPKM will be expanded to Siburan and Limbang as well,” she said.
On a separate note, commenting on the latest development in the child abuse case involving a four-year-old boy in Ipoh, Nancy said the victim is now under the care of the Social Welfare Department.
The department will evaluate the financial and emotional capacity of any prospective foster parents, especially among the boy’s relatives.
On Thursday (August 3), the media reported the case of the boy’s desperate cries for food, which led to the discovery of his abuse by his mother and her boyfriend.
Ipoh district police chief ACP Yahaya Hassan said the boy had been left alone in a flat, and his body was covered in bruises.
The child was rescued after a member of the public lodged a police report on Wednesday (August 2), following which a man and woman, aged 25 and 23, were detained on the same day.
— Bernama
