by Rosli Mansor
Perak is preparing a strategy with the Department of Social Welfare (JKM) so that the desire to establish Activity Centres for the Aged (PAWE) in 24 Perak State Parliaments can be achieved.
The chairman of the state’s Women, Family, Social Welfare and Entrepreneur Development Committee, Salbiah Mohamed said, in a short while, she will raise the matter with the Minister of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
She said, so far there are 12 PAWEs that have been successfully established in Perak, to ensure that the welfare and needs of the group are not neglected.
“The state government through JKM Perak always conducts engagement sessions with all PAWE operators in Perak in order to monitor the progress and development of this PAWE.
“The state government will continue to help the existing PAWE and will organise a more strategic plan with JKM so that this PAWE can be established in all 24 Parliaments in Perak.
“This effort, God willing… is one of the issues that I will emphasise in a courtesy visit and bilateral discussions with YB Minister of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development soon,” she said.
She said this when answering a verbal question at the 15th State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Conference on Thursday.
She explained further, the 12 existing PAWEs include UTC PAWE (Kinta District), Tanjung Malim PAWE (Muallim District), Slim Village PAWE (Muallim District), Lekir PAWE (Manjung District), Padang Rengas PAWE (Kuala Kangsar District), Manong PAWE (Kuala Kangsar District), Langkap PAWE (Hilir Perak District), Bagan Datuk PAWE (Bagan Datuk District), Tambun PAWE (Kinta District) (New), Gopeng PAWE (Kinta District) (Starting January 2023), Kg Gajah PAWE (Central Perak District) (Starting January 2023) and PAWE Taiping (Larut, Matang and Selama Districts) –in the process of repair works.
Salbiah said, if the application for the establishment of PAWE is approved by the JKM Headquarters, it will receive an establishment grant for maintenance and repairs.
In addition, the purchase of equipment and operations of RM100,000 on a one-off basis and an operations grant of RM50,000 for a period of 12 months.
“This operating allocation is channelled for the purpose of funding the workforce (supervisor and assistant allowance), management and premises rental,” she added.
She said, among the criteria for the establishment of a PAWE is a large number of elderly people who are interested in carrying out activities in a community, a strategic location of premises that is easily accessible to the elderly and the general public.
In addition, it is also close to public facilities and the premises chosen should be friendly to the elderly and suitable for the programmes and activities to be carried out such as government buildings, private premises, quarters, public halls and so on.
