KUCHING: Fifty-four homeless rescue operations which have been carried out since 2016 have identified and rescued a total of 162 homeless people, said Women, Family and Childhood Development Assistant Minister Rosey Yunus.
Among the issues often associated with homeless people are cleanliness of the city especially for places of interest and tourist attraction; health problems especially chronic illness, mental and infectious health; validity of identification documents; criminal cases such as petty crimes; drug and substance abuse; socio-economic problems; human-trafficking (such as sexual exploitation of children and women); and neglect of the elderly and disabled.
“Today’s workshop is organised to establish coordination on interpretation, legislation, regulations, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and existing work processes on homelessness issues involving various government departments and agencies, stakeholders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
”The final draft framework and strategic plan to overcome this issue can be framed through cooperation and collaboration between us.
“It is hoped that this event will improve and strengthen the procedures in addressing the homelessness issue in Sarawak,” said Rosey at a workshop organised by Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry at the Waterfront Hotel here yesterday.
According to her, there are several challenges that need to be resolved to address the homelessness issue more effectively.
“As a way forward, we must establish an integrated Psychiatry Nursing Home in Sarawak.
“The laws relating to this issue must also be relevant and not antagonistic to each other. For example, a person with a history of mental health problems is not eligible to enter the rehab centre at Desa Bina Diri under Akta Orang Papa, while on the other hand, a person cannot be detained at the Sentosa Hospital when he is already stable under the Mental Health Act,” she added.
Meanwhile, commenting on the social issues snapshots she said evidence-based input is crucial to address social issues.
Hence, the analysis of reliable and valid data to spot trends, parameters, indicators and correlations into brief and meaningful snapshots is critical to ensure that effective social policies and interventions are formulated, designed and evaluated.
“The ministry has launched the official social media for the Social Development Council of Sarawak (SDCS) and the #careforsarawak community pledge on Oct 2, 2018.
“This portal will not only serves as a communication tool for the ministry to share the development of current social issues, but also serves as a tool to build broader and more effective collaboration and networking between strategic partners, stakeholders and affiliates of the ministry in achieving social well-being among communities in Sarawak,” explained Rosey.
Talking on the organising of the workshop, she said it showed the concern of the ministry that social development is equally important as physical and economic development.
