Independent collective Food Not Bombs has urged an immediate repeal of the Destitute Persons Act 1977 (DPA) by the government as a tool to address homelessness and poverty.

Describing the law as inhumane, they said the current law furnishes government officers with the powers to take into custody, detain (up to three years) and otherwise intervene in the lives of any Malaysian deemed to be ‘destitute’ through Operasi Gelandangan, where raids, drug tests, acts of intimidation and various forms of ‘systematic harassment’ are conducted.

The detainees are then kept against their will in facilities run by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, they claimed.

“It facilitates policing, harassment and forced removal of homeless persons from public spaces, thereby violating constitutional rights to freedom of movement, equal protection and personal liberty,” a Food Not Bombs spokesperson said in a statement.

This statement was in relation to the recent announcement by the ministry to amend the Destitute Persons Act to ensure harsher enforcement and punishment against persons found or feared to be begging.

“We firmly stand opposed to any criminalisation of begging, because like homelessness, it is a symptom of larger social and economic problems” the group said.

Food Not Bombs also said that the implementation of the Act is a waste in of public resources in carrying out meaningless raids and detention. It also is not the solution to homelessness and poverty, they claimed.

“Locking people away in ‘welfare homes’ neither qualifies as care nor gets to the root of the problem; it is morally reprehensible and legally unjust that we seek to serve someone’s best interests by suspending their constitutional rights.”

The NGO group  also said the “beneficiaries” of this system cannot decline or appeal over the intervention, which can be punishable by imprisonment if there is any ‘resistance’. The practices linked to the Act only add further strain to their lives by depriving them of possessions, personal dignity and well-being and constitutional rights and freedoms.

“People who are homeless face a multitude of troubles such as illness, injury, job exploitation, debt, and discrimination. We urge an immediate repeal of the Destitute Persons Act and the development of a policy framework for providing greater social and economic inclusion and security for all persons.”

The group, which distributes free food to the homeless around the capital, also urged the government to take a closer look at the association between homelessness and  factors like country’s employment rate, pension, housing, health, education, and social protection schemes, which are  full of cracks.

Food Not Bombs stated that programmes and policies addressing homelessness should - without exception - be designed in accordance with the equal rights, freedoms, dignity, and needs of all citizens. They also added that the  resources allocated for the Act can be put to better use to in the form of constructive assistance.