Homeless people are seen eating food provided by soup kitchens in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, July 8, 2014.
Despite the threat of being fined by City Hall, defiant soup kitchens have continued to feed the homeless in the city centre.
There was no sign of city hall enforcement officers at any food distribution points last night.
Founding member of Pertiwi (Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam Malaysia) soup kitchen, Munirah Abdul Hamid, said that there had been no presence of city hall officers during Pertiwi’s food distribution rounds at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman or Kotaraya.
"Let them come. We won't stop," said Munirah last night.
Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has come under heavy criticism for his ban on feeding activities for the homeless within a 2km radius of the Lot 10 shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang area.
Last week he warned that City Hall would fine those who continued to feed the homeless.
He said that soup kitchens were responsible for encouraging laziness among the homeless as well as for littering the streets and attracting pests that bring about diseases such as Leptospirosis.
Munirah added that she will also be heading to a meeting with the ministry to discuss the issue of homelessness and beggars in the city.
However, she was initially not invited to the meeting and had to get hold of one of the officers in the ministry to secure her attendance.
“We will settle this like adults and in the most polite manner. There is a solution to this homelessness problem and we pitched the idea before, something that we will inform them again in the meeting today," Munirah said.
- TMI
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