Instead of waging war against the homeless, laws and society should wage war against poverty, says Wong Ee Lynn.
Syerleena Abdul Rashid’s article, ‘Showing compassion towards the homeless’ demonstrates a level of compassion and empathy that is sadly lacking in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
It is a grim sign of the state of our society when government ministries responsible for the welfare of citizens are content to blame volunteers and non-governmental organisations for the burgeoning number of impoverished and homeless individuals.
I have been a volunteer with homeless outreach organisations for many years, and I uphold that these organisations and their volunteers are neither naïve nor foolish, as the government implies.
Homeless outreach organisations offer more than just food. Almost all offer basic counselling services, employment counselling and referrals, assistance to families and vulnerable individuals, legal advice and assistance, First Aid services and medical assistance, and opportunities for the homeless to find better jobs and re-enter mainstream society.
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For many of the most socially excluded individuals, the practical help we extend is our way of telling them: “You have friends. We are here to support you, and help you when you are ready. We can talk, when your stomach is no longer hungry. Here is some food, and you don’t have to resort to unlawful or degrading means to obtain it.”
Most of the homeless individuals in Malaysia are not unemployed, but are working at low-paying jobs.
Some have mental illness or are of sub-average intelligence and therefore unemployable.
Some lost their jobs due to the deteriorating economy, personal problems, clinical depression or other medical issues.
Some are victims of crime, sexual abuse or domestic violence.
Some were cheated of their wages by employers, or had entered into business partnerships which failed.
Some are senior citizens abandoned by their families and are unable to find a welfare home that is able to accept them.
But many are just ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet and send money home to their families in other towns and villages.
The reason for the rising number of homeless people in the streets of Kuala Lumpur is the same as everywhere else in the world – urban migration for better economic opportunities, wage stagnation and rising costs of living.
Rising rent, utility costs and fuel costs mean that low-income individuals who were previously able to rent rooms in the city are now no longer able to afford the same.
While affordable housing is available outside of city limits, the cost of private vehicle ownership and the lack of a reliable public transport system mean that these individuals have no means of travelling to and from work. As a result, many opt to sleep in public areas not far from their workplaces.
I reiterate that none of them are pampered, lazy or entitled. All the homeless individuals we have encountered were proud to let us know when they have found rooms to rent, are leaving for better jobs or have saved up enough to return to their villages. They are invariably ready and willing to help one another and the organisations that assist them.
NGOs and the food we give out are not the reason people sleep on the streets. Many politely decline food when they have eaten and ask us to give the food to others in need. Many others care for stray animals, who the volunteers then assist in neutering, vaccinating and feeding. Yet others save on rent so they can send money home to support their aged parents or school-going siblings.
Homelessness isn’t a choice. No child dreams of becoming the person sleeping on the streets when they grow up. Somewhere along the way, something went wrong. Our job is to find out what went wrong and to find solutions. We cannot punish people just for their poverty and suffering.
The measures proposed by the government may face practical setbacks in their implementation. The government has provided drop-in centres and temporary shelters where the homeless and urban poor can obtain food and have a place to shower and rest.
But these shelters are often not operational or open to the homeless. Therefore, NGOs and volunteers are right to feel concerned that the proposed government-run shelters and soup kitchens may not operate consistently or be accessible to all homeless individuals.
There is also the concern that the most vulnerable individuals – the abused, the mentally ill, the differently-abled and the victims of street violence – will not be able to come to the soup kitchens and shelters for the assistance they need.
If the government is sincere in its efforts to eliminate poverty and homelessness, it must first eradicate corruption and the stifling bureaucracy that makes access to shelters and welfare homes an immense challenge.
There must be legislation and real measures to implement a realistic living minimum wage, protect the rights of workers, amend bankruptcy and foreclosure laws, allocate a percentage of land and housing for the poor and disadvantaged and ensure that the latter are reserved for low-income citizens.
Long-term solutions can also be found in providing state-funded high quality education and skills training, microcredit loans for the deserving, mental health treatment and assistance for the mentally ill and substance-addicted, hostels and job training for ex-convicts and former drug users, and legal assistance and safe houses for women who are victims of domestic violence, trafficking or entrapment into the sex trade.
Investigations must be conducted into cases of unfair land acquisition, water and soil pollution and other forms of destruction of rural areas which threaten the economic survival of rural communities, resulting in rural folk moving to cities where they end up as displaced persons.
Instead of waging war against the homeless, laws and society should wage war against poverty. The government cannot make it illegal for people to be homeless unless there are systems in place to make it virtually impossible to be homeless.
Wong Ee Lynn is a legally trained humanitarian service professional based in Petaling Jaya. She sees volunteering and activism as ways in which individuals can vote for the kind of society they wish to live in.
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Have you ever heard of ‘it takes one to recognise another’ ? Dose that not mean those who call these homeless are freeloaders are real free loaders in the first place ? In fact they are not only free loaders but they are done in the name of compassion and worst of all they are also very corrupted and at the same time too !