MENTERI OH MENTERI !!! Tak tahulah apa nak cakap kat menteri-menteri ni. Kadang-kadang rasa macam tak layak pemimpin macam ni diangkat sebagai Menteri. Bukankah bulan Ramadan mengajar kita supaya bersyukur, serta
mengingatkan kita terhadap permasalahan yang dihadapi oleh mereka yang
tidak bernasib baik. Amalan bersedekah serta memberikan makanan kepada orang yang berpuasa amat digalakkan.
Hari ini sekali lagi, rakyat Malaysia tersentak, kecewa dan marah dengan Menteri Kementerian Persekutuan, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Ini berikutan arahan beliau yang melarang satu NGO, Soup Kitchen memberi makan kepada homeless dalam radius 2km daripada Lot 10. Kalau dikira radius 2km itu sebenarnya agak luas kawasannya.
Hari ini sekali lagi, rakyat Malaysia tersentak, kecewa dan marah dengan Menteri Kementerian Persekutuan, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Ini berikutan arahan beliau yang melarang satu NGO, Soup Kitchen memberi makan kepada homeless dalam radius 2km daripada Lot 10. Kalau dikira radius 2km itu sebenarnya agak luas kawasannya.
Arahan itu dibuat untuk mengelak orang ramai terus menjadi homeless
dan saya tidak rasa dengan menghapuskan pemberi sedekah adalah
penyelesaian yang bijak.
Izzati Rahman
dalam posting Facebooknya berkata beliau mempunyai pengalaman menjadi
sukarelawan Soup Kitchen sejak berumur 16 tahun. Postingnya disokong
rakyat Malaysia apabila menerima lebih 4188 shares dan masih meningkat.
Dan ini saya kongsikan di bawah supaya mudah untuk anda membaca.Petikan dibawah saya ambil dari FB beliau.
I am not a veteran volunteer, but I have had a fair share of
experience volunteering at various soup kitchens across Kuala Lumpur
since I was 16. This is my humble opinion and is not linked to any
organisations that I have volunteered with.
From cutting onions to packing food to distributing food in the soup
kitchen, we have never been paid. Most soup kitchens receive monetary
donation or food donation from various sponsors, be it an individual,
company or food operator. Each soup kitchen has their location of
distribution (sometimes 3/4 a night) and it is almost at the same spot
every time they are on duty. Faces change among volunteers, some
regular, some not. Same goes to those who come for food, some are
regulars, some are not.
You see, not all of the people who come for soup kitchens are
homeless. Some of them are, but a big number of them are people
suffering from poverty. Extremely small income earners who cannot afford
to feed their family, single mothers who have worked double shift on
minimum wage and is unable to provide food for their children, and also
old people who are not being cared after. People who have so little to
live on, but with many many mouths to feed. Those are the people who
line up day after day.
Do we feed the homeless, the drug users and sex workers? Yes we do.
The raunchy looking guy with bloodshot red eyes? Yes we do. The man who
smells like booze hardly able to stand straight while queueing? Yes we
do. The man who pushes a stolen trolly from Giant with all his things
inside? Yes we do. But we do not discriminate, we feed because they are
hungry and because getting food is a problem for them.
Now, Dato Seri Tengku Adnan said in his statement, “We give them jobs
but they don’t want as it is easy to get food as these street kitchens
are feeding them”. Putrajaya created a plan to give jobs to the jobless,
and not specifically jobs for the homeless. Half of the homeless people
do not even have proper identification as they are born out of
prostitution, poverty, or is mentally unstable and unfit to find an
occupation. Now Dato’, I am pretty sure you have never gone down to the
streets to volunteer, so let me give you a little introduction. Soup
kitchens in Malaysia are not a walk-in-for-free KFC where it is open 24
hours for you to come in anytime you like, place your order and walk
away with hot delicious food. Most soup kitchens only operate at night
because volunteers have a day job. Then there’s the weather, and the
queue to take food, and trust me Dato’, it is not the gourmet food you
are fed with your entire life. Its basic food, just to beat the hunger.
So those who come for food, can only come once a day, walk to the area
of distribution, bear with the weather and queue just to get basic food.
Easy? No Dato’. Its not.
By following your logic, we should ban free food for buka puasa at
Masjids, because free food breeds homelessness. We should ban Langar
meals at Gudhwaras and temples giving free vegetarian lunch, because we
will breed homelessness. We should probably ban Ministers lavish open
houses during festive seasons (which are paid by us, the rakyat btw),
because that too will breed homelessness. Go ahead, ban them.
Another statement I find to be a bit out of hand is that, volunteer
soup kitchens cause garbage infested scenes. Again, Dato, this is not a
restaurant where we open tables and serve food under the romantic
streetlights of “your” city. Most of the food are packed and given to
them where they would go to other places and eat. Either at home, or if
they are homeless, wherever they seek shelter. Most don’t eat at the
location because there is no space due to the queue and also due to the
other services a soup kitchen provide, like a mobile clinic or a free
haircutting service. In every soup kitchen, there will be volunteers who
will be in charge of the location and queue to ensure that people don’t
mess the area up or create a scene. Guess what, some of them even clean
after the place too, even when the litter was there before the soup
kitchen came.
Its funny how you say soup kitchens cause the garbage. Let me ask
you, Dato, have you ever been to a pasar malam or pasar ramadhan? Where
people dump garbage as they walk, after they buy food and after they
sell their goods? Have you ever walked on a street the morning after a
pasar malam? Its infested with garbage, plastic wrappers. Oh go shut
them down too, why not.
Do you know why the rakyat is so unhappy with this ban? Well first of
all, it is not your city, it is ours. We paid you to run it. Secondly,
is because this shows what your priority is, which is image over
welfare. Orang melayu kata, biar papa asalkan bergaya, mungkin itulah
pegangan hidup Dato. And thirdly, is because we know how it is like to
fall. Sometimes, life pulls the carpet under you and you crash with
everything around you, and you need help to get up. There is no shame in
asking for help, but there is great shame when you are so arrogant, you
stop others from seeking help. You may be blessed today, you drive your
fancy car, live in your big house and eat delicious food all day
everyday. But like those who queues up for free food, they did not ask
for that moment when their life turned upside down. And lastly, is
because, we, the volunteers/donors, take it upon ourselves to settle a
problem that should have been YOUR responsibility. But in our mission,
you ban us?
I sincerely hope you learn a few lessons on humility before life
teaches you the hard way. There’s no shame in wanting to erase poverty
and homelessness. In fact I think its noble. But there is shame in
condemning others, just because life is a little harsh on them.
I hope you reconsider. But nonetheless, I know the NGOs will not let
your ruling stop them, because they are the heroes. They have always
been the heroes.
Thank you.
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