The Rural Development Ministry (KPLB) has refuted a news portal report that Pulau Indah Orang Asli had their food supply disrupted following the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) since March 18.

KPLB in a statement today said the first phase of aid comprising baskets of food items worth RM100 each was distributed by the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) to 64 heads of household in the area.

It said for phase two, KPLB Deputy Minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad presented the food baskets and health kits to 84 heads of household on April 10.

"The additional households were based on information from the Tok Batin or village head of Pulau Indah,” said the ministry.

Overall, KPLB said the government had allocated RM11 million for food baskets and health kits for the Orang Asli community throughout the country.

From the total, KPLB allocated RM5 million for the first phase and RM6 million for the second phase.

"The first phase involved 49,670 heads of household while the second phase has 55,000 household heads as some families have shifted to other villages since the MCO came into force,” it said.

According to KPLB, basic essential goods distributed by Jakoa included 15 kg of rice, flour, cooking oil, canned sardine, milk, sugar, salt, tea, and soy sauce.

In phase two, he said several items such as face mask, sanitizer, soap and formula milk were added.

Besides distributing aid from the government, Jakoa was also involved in coordinating and distributing assistance from other agencies, non-governmental organisations and members of Parliament.

The ministry said members of the public can obtain further information by calling the Jakoa hotline at 03-2161 0577 (8 am to 9 pm) or email to [email protected].

- Bernama