I REFER to the report in Streets (June 2) under the caption "Hope for the homeless" where efforts are being made to reach out to the city's vagrants and the homeless.
I wish to congratulate Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK) and other NGOs for their humanitarian efforts to provide food aid to the homeless without which their survival would be at stake.
It is indeed a humanitarian mission which must be given due recognition.
The government and, in particular, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry should be grateful to NGOs like the KSK and others for coming forward voluntarily to assist the government in providing food aid to those concerned.
Providing food and shelter to the homeless is in fact a government's social responsibility.
The homeless are found in most if not all cities and they need to be given help on compassionate grounds.
It is indeed heartening to note that the KSK food project is well organised to help the affected and it is even prepared to offer its services to run a shelter for the homeless in KL if a place is offered by the government.
Most of the homeless assisted by KSK and others are made up of job seekers from other states in Malaysia who are forced to live on the streets because they do not have the means for accommodation or who are not able to seek support from relatives.
The issue of the genuine homeless in our city today is a harsh reality which has to be accepted by the government although we are striving towards a developed nation status.
I urge the government to make a special allocation in its 2015 Budget to help provide job training and shelter for these homeless with the assistance of those dedicated NGOs on a long-term basis.
I hope the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, which has already engaged with several NGOs on the issue, will pursue this matter with the Treasury to seek the financial allocation to help the homeless secure a future.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Kuala Lumpur
