YOURSAY | 'Well done, Petaling Jaya district police chief Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal.'

Poor mother of 3 caught shoplifting, saved by PJ police compassion

Manjit Bhatia: To the police officers - thank you. You are far more decent than those in the force who are corrupt to their eyeballs.

What this story demonstrates without a shadow of a doubt is that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's so-called second movement control order (MCO 2.0), which most people think is a total farce compared to the first MCO, is how his Covid-19 policies are having adverse effects, especially on the poor.

Equally, it makes Muhyiddin’s so-called emergency just as farcical, because it's not designed to tackle Covid-19 but to handle his detractors from within his "coalition" before they force him out from his stolen lofty height.

Another commenter here said this story shows the abject failure of the Welfare Department. I agree. By definition of its role, it should have its ears to the ground and listen to such stories of incredible plight and destitution, enquire and act at once. The only welfare the Welfare Department is concerned about is its own, it seems.

Muhyiddin can pretend he's leading the charge against Covid-19 and repairing the economy. This story fleshes out Muhyiddin's failure and the failure of the Health Ministry's bureaucrats who sit in their air-conditioned offices pontificating their navels when one of the most crucial aspects of poor health is poverty.

The poorer one is, the more susceptible one becomes to declining health, and in this case, even succumbing to Covid-19.

The Muhyiddin regime, like all previous regimes, is an expert at wasting finite public resources. Instead of blowing RM35 million on three completely daft and useless halls that, like everything else, inevitably add to the other white elephants - in what appears to be his attempts to fish for votes - the sum could be set aside to immediately help the poorest of the poor.

His spiel that his Covid-19 management approach is an "all of government" and an "all of people" one is another of his bald-faced lies and incompetence. Because this story shows there isn't such an approach.

How many more (poor) Malaysians need to die before Perikatan Nasional (PN) is kicked out of power?

QG 007: Kudos, Mr Police! The Welfare Department and the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development have a financial assistance scheme to lessen the financial burden of the less fortunate and needy individuals/families.

Financial assistance will be rendered until such time when their situation has improved and they have become self-reliant. Similarly, nearby mosques and zakat offices might have some sort of short-term programmes to help the less fortunate.

The question is - how is the availability of such programmes communicated to the general public, specifically to the target groups? Who should do what? Either the needy should go to this office to present their case or the office should search for the eligible party.

What are the roles of the welfare officers, assemblypersons, village heads, mosque committees, neighbours and friends in helping the needy to connect with the right body to get such help?

How can all these entities and netizens help spread the news of the process of getting help? Calling philanthropist Kuan Chee Heng, better known as Uncle Kentang, and making viral videos about people facing difficulties can work sometimes. However, this is not an amicable solution.

Not asking for help and resorting to stealing is not an option.

Brave Malaysian: Yes, well done, Petaling Jaya district police chief Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal. I am not sure if the government would appreciate your kind actions because it does make the government look bad.

The government is still oblivious to the sufferings of the B40 (bottom 40 percent), some of whom are in dire straits. Even aid from the government to these people is hijacked by the people involved in distributing it. It’s a sad state of affairs.

This is a crime committed nevertheless, but something that should never have happened if the government has a last-ditch resort for those really suffering from severe hunger, especially children.

I do hope that Nik Ezanee will not be blacklisted by either his superiors or the government for a noble act of kindness like this.

Instead, let this be an example for other officers to emulate: to act with compassion and kindness to the less fortunate. Let us all give freely to those in need.

YellowJaguar9219: Bravo sir, but it saddens me immensely that in this blessed country of ours, situations like this can still happen, irrespective of race.

If our rich resources had been properly managed all these years, our welfare services alone should be able to help her and many others like her.

Here we have, amongst others, a minister with a RM45,000 bicycle and a minister's wife "enjoying' her quarantine in a luxury resort and not forgetting a certain person who said in court that RM2 million is "pocket money" to him.

Salvage Malaysia: I am glad to see police with hearts. The PN government has failed the nation.

Cost of food is spiralling up. Take-home pay is spiralling down. Poverty and hunger rising, bankruptcies as well. National policies and game plans are almost non-existent. Politicking is number one.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was blinded pre-GE14, how angry the rakyat were. Now it’s Muhyiddin’s turn to be blinded.

It’s funny how power can blind one person. They all think alike - that the rakyat love them. I hope the PM is smarter to take heed of reality before it’s too late.

RedSinga9751: Nik Ezanee, I am full of praise for you for your special compassion shown to ordinary poor people. Not many can do this.

Tuan, for your info, I had done the same thing you did - one of my staff members stole two painting items to sell. I was supposed to discipline him for theft and after my investigation, I found the true reason but that was not an excuse to pardon him.

Nevertheless, I chose not to terminate his service and gave him a chance after very tough deliberations. To my surprise, this worker later became one of my best employees.

My2cen: It'll be really good if other police chiefs follow Nik Ezanee’s way to assess the merits of these petty cases, instead of charging and sending these poor folks to jail.

The ones police should nab are those with RM2 million in pocket money.

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