Skills to help urban poor get ahead PDF Print E-mail
Written by ERA Administrator   
Tuesday, 02 February 2010 12:16

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Senator Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said the Federal Territories is targeting to eliminate hardcore poverty by the end of the year.


For this, he said, the ministry was training 148 heads of hardcore poor households and 390 heads of poor households in Kuala Lumpur and Labuan in handicraft-making, tailoring and entrepreneurship to enable them to secure jobs or be self-employed.


The ministry had also issued hawker's licences to the hardcore poor and the poor and provided them with advisory services and courses to enable them to engage in business, he said at an investiture in conjunction with Federal Territories Day at Istana Negara yesterday.

Raja Nong Chik said the ministry was also taking measures to improve the quality of life in the urban areas by upgrading infrastructure, including providing covered walkways, pedestrian bridges and better bus services.

At the investiture, Acting Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah presented Federal Territory awards and medals to 240 recipients.

Former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, who is the member of parliament for Johor Baru, received the Darjah Seri Utama Mahkota Wilayah (SUMW), which carries the title "Datuk Seri Utama".

Seven people received the Darjah Seri Mahkota Wilayah (SMW), which carries the title "Datuk Seri", including Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail and Federal Court judges Datuk Gopal Sri Ram and Datuk James Foong Cheng Yuen.

Twenty-seven people were conferred the Panglima Mahkota Wilayah (PMW) award, which carries the title "Datuk". They included Director-General of Broadcasting Datuk Ibrahim Yahya, Malay Mail editor-in-chief Ahirudin Attan, better known as blogger "Rocky", and Harian Metro group editor Mustapa Omar.

Thirty-two people were conferred the Johan Mahkota Wilayah (JMW) award. One of them is Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) deputy editor-in-chief (General News Service) Zulkefli Salleh.

Thirty-nine people were conferred the Kesatria Mahkota Wilayah medal, 43 the Ahli Mahkota Wilayah medal and 90 the Pangkuan Mahkota Wilayah medal.

Present at the investiture were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his wife Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman. -- Bernama