Getting Tough With Local Councils On Disability

PETPOSITIVE BARKING NEWS!

DATELINE: PETPOSITIVE THERAPY CENTRE, PETALING JAYA.  

MALAYSIANS WITH DISABILITIES ARE ABOUT TO HAVE THEIR PRAYERS ANSWERED - FINALLY!

IN THE NEAR FUTURE, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO FIND IT MUCH EASIER TO GET JOBS BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY GET TO THEIR WORKPLACE. 

CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES WILL HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT BEING EDUCATED BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GO TO SCHOOL IN THEIR WHEELCHAIRS.

AND PERSONS WITH HANDICAPS IN GENERAL WILL BE ABLE TO LEAD HIGHER QUALITY OF LIVES THANKS TO ONE CHIEF REASON: THE SETTING UP OF DISABILITY COMMITTEES IN ALL LOCAL COUNCILS (PBTs) THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

This was revealed in a special meeting between several nongovernmental organisations and Dato Sri Sharizat Abdul Jalil (ABOVE), Minister for the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development in her office in Jalan Dato Onn in Kuala Lumpur early this week.

"Our Ministry will go all out to get all the local councils to start special disability committees in their respective areas so that basic issues such as accessibility can be effectively addressed and tackled," said Sharizat to the four NGOs that met her on Monday morning.

The groups were the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (PETPOSITIVE), the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC), Malaysian Parkinson's Disease Association and the Dyslexia Association of Malaysia.

All of the organisations are from KL except for the ILTC which is in Rawang, Selangor.

The special meeting with Dato Sri Sharizat was arranged by Petpositive.

"It is time for all of the PBTs to realise that the disabled are the best people to articulate about their needs rather than the able-bodied," Sharizat pointed out.

"All PBTs should work hard to ensure that the building bylaws for access for the disabled - which have already been gazetted in every state in Malaysia - should be enforced to provide a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities (PWDs)."

The Minister went on to stress that her Ministry was "very serious" about getting local councils to act. 

"We are working on a campaign to educate local councils to set up the special committees. 

MBPJ's outreach to the disabled

"We will start with a major seminar early next year to broach this issue.

"We will then move on to a concerted plan to get these special committees set up in each local council as soon as possible," Sharizat promised, to the beaming smiles from all the representatives who were present at the one hour meeting.

From Left: Dr Lim, aNt & Sharizat

Petpositive was represented by Anthony SB Thanasayan. ILTC by Francis Siva the president.

MPDA by medical adviser and consultant neurologist Dr Lim Shen-Yang and Dyslexia Association of Malaysia by its vice-president Dr Aziz Abu Hassan.

Liu to issue directive

Meanwhile, Petpositive held a similar meeting earlier on Thursday last week with Selangor State Executive Councillor and Chief of local councils Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew.

The Yang Berhormat (YB) said he would send a directive to all 12- local councils in the state to set up a disability committee as soon as possible.


This piece of information was conveyed by YB Ronnie to Petaling Jaya City Councillor (MBPJ) Anthony SB Thanasayan who is also Petpositive President.


MBPJ is so far the first and only local council to have a disability committee. 

Though it was started about ten years ago, it was revived in 2008 shortly after the Pakatan government was formed.

It immediately took on a new direction under the leadership of Our President as MBPJ Councillor. 

The Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) has had several meetings on disability issues supposedly under a "disability committee". 

However, no follow up meetings have been held in the past few months causing the disabled person who attended it to wonder if they are still in the committee of if any progress has been made from their earlier meetings. 

It has been reported that the Klang Municipality (MPK) also has disability meetings bimonthly. 

But apart from the council staff and a disabled councillor, apparently no other NGOs are involved in their meetings.

YB Ronnie Liu's intervention will go a long way to not only assist greatly in the establishment of the special committees but also energise the level of commitment of the Selangor local councils' towards this goal. 

A special "starter-kit" on how to set up disability committees in local councils is presently being drawn up by a local council specialist.

Once completed, it will be handed over to Ronnie Liu by Anthony SB Thanasayan and the local expert.

This is expected to happen before the end of the year.

PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association or Petpositive. Our stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then are now 100,000 and ever increasing! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly note that views expressed in this PET+BLOGSPOT are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook under PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support for our work. Thank you!

The Big Picture That Local Councils Need To See

TO those of you who may not know it by now, I have good news to share with you.

I’m absolutely delighted to say that I was sworn in as councillor of Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) last Thursday.

Following my appointment, it my third stint in holding such a responsible job in a high position. My term, like all my other councillor-colleagues in PJ and Selangor, will end on 31^st December next year.

I sit in the monthly council meetings of health, infrastructure and sustainable development. 

In health, we cover a wide range of issues from checking and taking action on dirty eateries, environmental hazards to the control of rats to avoid the spread of diseases.

For the disabled and the hardcore poor, we succeeded in offering them free treatment in MBPJ’s clinic. Plans are already in the pipeline to install a disabled-friendly loo there too.

Recently we went a step further.

We re-launched MBPJ’s two disabled-friendly vans in the poorest areas of PJ so that those who need it the most would know about the service and use them. The vans are available free-of-charge.

However, we are not stopping there.

For the next one-and-the-half years, we will be literally knocking on the doors of the homes of the poor in PJ to check on the disabled and elderly persons who might need help from the council.

In a recent exercise we came across several elderly folk who were bedridden and needing help after a heart attack, diabetes or some other ailment.

They had no wheelchairs so they remained in bed all the time. They couldn’t even go out to the balcony of their low-cost flat homes for some fresh air even though it was only a few metres away.

They had little or no help at home because their children were out working to eke out a living.

For one or two who possessed rickety wheelchairs, they couldn’t fit them in the toilet because the entrance was too small. They didn’t have proper grab bars so that they could use the facilities safely and comfortably.

For these people, MBPJ has decided to have a special fund to do the renovations for them for free. We are also inviting financial sponsors to come in as part of their community social responsibility to assist deserving people like this in order to raise a higher quality of life for them.

This initiative was started by Haniza Talha, the state assemblyperson for Taman Medan together with the planning department of MBPJ headed by its director Sharipah Marhaini. 

In the infrastructure committee, efforts are underway to start incorporating disabled-friendly features in all of the pavements that are being upgraded.

Residents with disabilities and the elderly in PJS 5 and 6 and some parts of PJ Old Town are already witnessing the changes literally from right outside the windows of their homes.  

The yellow tactile markings for the blind on the pavements and ramps with gentle gradients for wheelchairs are already opening up doors of opportunity for the once ignored disabled community there so that they are able to interact normally with the rest of the non disabled residents.

It will be easier for them now to find jobs, get married and even raise a family and live on their own without having to depend on anybody.

At the sustainable development meeting, we are checking on elderly and disabled homes to ensure that the people who live there get the facilities that they require from the operators.

We are making sure that none of them are short-changed: toilets must be designed with enough space to manoeuvre a wheelchair along with a caregiver, grab bars provided and steps levelled to facilitate wheelchairs before approvals are given.

Those who don’t provide such facilities are called in and explained in detail to as to why such needs are necessary.

There are so many other things that MBPJ is doing – as well as also needs to be done – in order to create a barrier free PJ for everyone.

One of the best recently is a special new image designed by the Planning Department.

It is a striking drawing depicting the true and real people of Petaling Jaya.

What is dynamic about the picture is that for the first time, instead of only non disabled children and adults making up the artwork, there are images of people with special differences.

There is an able-bodied mother with her two children, an elderly man with his walking stick and a father pushing his child in a pram alongside his pregnant wife.

There is also someone wheeling her disabled loved one in a wheelchair whilst a blind man is being led by his guide dog.

I sincerely think folks that the days are finally here when we are all beginning to see the bigger picture now.

The End

PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our contents are ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is 45,000 hits and counting. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my

WEEKEND VIEW #1: Better Approach For Councils

I HAVE been learning about a lot of things lately. 

The most recent has been about local councils. 

For example: When you happen to find yourself in a situation where you are on a head on collision against them, what do you do?

Is it better to: A) Fight them? Or B) engage with them in order to try and get them on your side?   

Well, I never thought that as a person who had on several occasions championed canine issues in my wheelchair with the local authorities that a day would come by when I would suddenly find myself almost totally on their side.

And who would have dreamt – and God forbid – that I would even have to spar with some of my animal activist friends over the matter!

That happened recently over reports of allegations of cruelty that came out in the newspapers over a particular dog pound in Selangor.

Now please, don’t you all go and misunderstand me.

It’s not that I believe that nothing bad ever took place in the pound.

It very well could have. Just as animal activists we know such cases probably occur at one time or another in other local council pounds throughout the country.

The pictures of so-called “acts of cruelty” indicating something that was going on at the pound that was certainly not alright was one thing.

However, my real problem was in believing some of those nasty stories. Particularly so when I visited the pound in my official capacity as the Canine Advisory Team (CAT) chairman of my local council.  

So much so that whatever really happened became lost as a result in the contradictions and exaggerations, ranging from incredulity to ludicrousness.  

Reports of dogs, for example, being systematically starved to death and then suddenly being changed to “abuse” of being fed with only white rice.

Canines being drowned by local council staff, or suddenly being torched alive sounded very much like a horror story right out of some medieval time of a crazy canine-cleansing ritual camp where officials take great pleasure in torturing dogs for fun and sport.

All these happening right in front of our eyes here in modern Malaysia!

"What I don’t understand is that if such heinous proportions of cruelty were being committed by anybody, why weren’t police reports duly made?"

And some of these “human animal torturers” were people who made it a point to regularly attend our monthly CAT meetings.

What I don’t understand is that if such heinous proportions of cruelty were being committed by anybody, why weren’t police reports duly made? 

Or lawyers employed to take the perpetrators to court – especially if incriminating pictures existed? 

The truth of the matter is the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) - the rightful body to take action against cruelty matters in Malaysia – visited the local pound last week – as they had done several times before.

The pound was given an all-clear sign after the DVS had pointed out measures of improvements to take for the future.

Last week, funnily enough, a group of disabled activists and I visited the very same local council for a totally different matter.

We were there in our wheelchairs mostly to conduct an access survey exercise on how friendly the local council building was to people with disabilities.

We decided to take a much softer and more-friendly approach with the council.

None of us shouted or tried to hurl accusations at them even though we were not completely happy with the conditions of their building.

Instead, after tea, we got them to take us on a tour around their buildings and made our critical assessments of what we saw around us.

But not before getting some of the building, engineering, planning and landscape experts into wheelchairs themselves or blindfolded just to allow them to have an experiential perspective of what life was like for us as persons with disabilities.   

We watched as an engineer struggled to get “his wheelchair” into the men’s restroom. He became so frustrated that he jumped out of the wheelchair in the end.

I asked a “blinded” key building staff to push the non-Brailled buttons in the lift to get us to the ground floor. She had no idea where the buttons were or which button to press for which floor because there were no markings on it for the blind.

And when we got to the right floor, she was totally unaware as there was no voice synthesizer to indicate which floor the lift had made its stop on.

The two hours spent on the exercise was a huge learning experience for both parties.

For the key planners of the town, it was an eye-opener as to how the needs of a very important community had been not thought about enough by the council.

Now imagine if we decided to take a totally aggressive approach?  

For us, it was a simple and valuable lesson in life when it comes to local councils: There is always a better and another more effective way to skin a cat. (Please pardon the expression.)

Note: Pictures are also courtesy of the Independent Living and Training Centre in Rawang, Selangor. 

The End

 


PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive).

We take pride in the fact that everything you read in our blog is ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST.

Our blog which was first established in October 2007 currently has more than 35,000 hits. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated frequently.

Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Petpositive.

You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my

Another MBPJ epoch-making occasion for the disabled and the elderly

PETPOSITIVE NEWSFLASH!

LOCAL HISTORY IS BEING CREATED once again today in the city of Petaling Jaya.

And this spells good news for the disabled and elderly communities.

Later this afternoon, representatives from nearly a dozen local councils in Selangor will assemble at the headquarters of the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) to attend the latter's regular monthly meeting on disability concerns.
 
However, what will make today's meeting extraordinary is that this will be the first time in almost two years that all 11-councils in Selangor will be having a serious pow-wow on the problems faced by handicapped and senior citizens within the local governments.

"Town-planning head Sharipah Marhaini and I are extremely excited about today's meeting," said MBPJ Councillor Anthony SB Thanasayan to PET+BLOGSPOT! recently.

"This will be our biggest break yet to be able to share with other councils the advances that have been made by MBPJ for disabled-friendly access, amongst others," added Thanasayan who is also President of Petpositive. 

According to him today's meeting will also be an opportunity for the other councils to share on what progress they have made in making their towns and cities accessible to all persons.

"We hope that the weaker ones will be able to call on the stronger local councils to come forward to support their barrier-free initiatives," explained Thanasayan.

The MBPJ disabled councillor strongly believes that if the local councils don't intervene to help the disabled communities, the handicapped's future might as well be doomed.

This afternoon's two-hour meeting will be chaired by Thanasayan and Marhaini. A press conference will be held after the deliberations at 4.30pm. 

New Straits Times Press and news portal Malaysiakini have confirmed their attendance.

MEANWHILE, PETPOSITIVE has received an SOS by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the Asia-Pacific region who are planning a protest against Kentucky Friend Chicken in Malaysia soon.

PETA is mad about the fact that KFC, according to them, refuses to stop their horrific abuse on chickens such as having their throats slit whilst they are alive and dunking them monstrously into scalding-hot water in the same condition. 

IN VIEW OF THIS PETPOSITIVE ALSO CALLS FOR THE BOYCOTT OF KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT!               

Here it the email which was sent to our President last night: 

Dear Activists,

 

PETA Asia  will be holding a series of demonstrations against KFC in Malaysia and we need your help! Join us in protest against KFC’s refusal to eliminate the worst abuses that chickens suffer in the factory farms and slaughterhouses of its suppliers, including crippling injuries because of cruel breeding practices and the overuse of drugs, having their throats slit while they are still conscious, and being dunked into tanks of scalding-hot water while they are still alive and able to feel pain.

 

Protests will be held as follows:

 

·        Kota Kinabalu (first time!) – Sunday 28 Feb 2010

·        Penang  – Thursday 4 Mar 2010

·        Kuala Lumpur – Saturday 6 Mar 2010

 

We need your help to make these demos successful! Please contact me if you’re able to help in any of the following ways or know someone who can:

 

·        We need a volunteer who speaks Bahasa Malay to attend each demo. The volunteer would be assisting us in speaking to the public and the media. If you’re not comfortable speaking to the media, we’d love to have you help by passing out leaflets.

·        We need volunteers to demonstrate in costumes, hold signs, or pose in cages, at each demo.

·        We need volunteers who can make follow-up calls in Malay to media outlets. The calls need to be done on the afternoon before and/or the morning of the demo. The calls are very simple and are just intended to verify that the media outlet has received our news release. We are grateful for any help with media calls—even five calls can make a big difference!

·        We need volunteers who can translate our news releases from English to Malay. This would need to be done a week before the demo.

·        We need a volunteer who can check out KFC locations in Kota Kinabalu and Penang before we arrive to make sure that they are suitable for demos.

·        We need volunteers in Penang and Kota Kinabalu to help us compile a media list of local newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations so we can ensure our events get maximum media attention.

 

Please reply to this e-mail for more information about any of these projects.

 

Why is PETA Asia-Pacific targeting KFC Malaysia? Each year, hundreds of millions of chickens raised and killed each year for KFC Malaysia are tortured for their entire abbreviated lives. They are drugged and bred to grow so large that many become crippled under the weight of their massive upper bodies. Many have their throats slit while they are still conscious and are scalded to death in defeathering tanks. KFC Malaysia has ignored the recommendations of animal welfare advisory panel for years. For more information, click on the following link: kentuckyfriedcruelty.com.

 

If you’d like to volunteer, please email me at EdwardB@PETAAsiaPacific.com.

 

For all animals,

 

Edward Basse

Activist Liaison

PETA Asia-Pacific

Note: The story on the KKB dogs meant for today will appear tomorrow.

 
PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive).

We take pride in the fact that everything you read in our blog is ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST.


Our blog which was first established in October 2007 currently has more than 35,000 hits. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated frequently.


Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Petpositive.


You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my