PARLIAMENT | The Housing and Local Government Ministry has trained 22 mothers at PPR Lembah Subang 2 as part of its pilot childcare support programme for low-income households.

Its minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (Harapan-Ampang) said the programme was a government’s initiative to help parents from low-income households who are facing childcare problems.

“So far we have trained 22 mothers at PPR Lembah Subang 2 to participate in the ministry’s ‘Anakku Anakmu’ programme,” said Zuraida during Question Time, in response to Steven Choong (Harapan-Tebrau), who asked the government to state when it would start such a project and what are the efforts to monitor its implementation.

Zuraida noted that many PPR residents were not in the position to manage matters beyond their own households and required assistance from the government.

As such, she said the government is also in the process of training officers who would form a Community Cooperation Secretariat as part of efforts to empower low-income families living in PPRs.

Noh Omar (BN-Tanjong Karang) then questioned whether the ministry would continue with projects introduced under the previous administration.

Citing PPR Lembah Subang 2 as an example, Noh, a former housing and local government minister, said he had personally made a site visit to the low-income household project during the recent Seri Setia by-election campaign trail.

“There is already a kindergarten classroom space (but) it does not even have any chairs,” he said, adding that BN had also pushed the idea of a counselling room to tackle issues of youth delinquency and drug abuse.

To this, Zuraida simply reiterated that the secretariat would cover all bases in its efforts to empower all households.

After defeating PAS’ Dr Halimah Mohd Ali in the Seri Setia by-election, Harapan’s Halimey Abu Bakar had pledged to pay more attention to low-income voters in the Selangor state seat.

PPR Lembah Subang 2 and several other PPRs in the area were a major part of the campaign trails of both candidates.