Ops Qaseh is to turn KL into a ‘zero’ vagrant and beggars city, says Rohani
Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim has said the operation to round up vagrants in the city will be carried out, despite the widespread criticism against it.
The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said the controversial Ops Qaseh is to turn Kuala Lumpur into a “zero” vagrant and beggars city.
“We have not carried out any operation yet. I have never said when Ops Qaseh will start and there was no operation carried out last night.
“To me Ops Qaseh should be a continuous operation and should not be fixed for a certain period,” she told reporters today in Putrajaya.
She said the Ops Qaseh was for the vagrants and beggars own good.
“This is a rescue operation not an exercise to jail them,” she said.
Ops Qaseh is a three-pronged approach initiated by the department and the ministry. It is aided by the police, Immigration Department, KL City Hall and the National Anti-Drug Agency.
Under the operation, the homeless will be taken to Desa Bina Diri (DBD) shelters-cum-rehabilitation centres for beggars and vagrants under the Welfare Department.
They will be sent to relevant institutions a month later.
DAP Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said to detain the homeless against their will using the Destitute Persons Act (DPA) is an infringement of their rights.
“This is a serious breach to the freedom of the homeless in Kuala Lumpur. The minister had said that the homeless will be given care and rehabilitation for three years and can be released early under two conditions, as per Section 8(1) of the Destitute Persons Act 1977.
“These are that the authorities are satisfied that the resident has obtained appropriate work to sustain himself or has been released to someone who can support and take care of them,” he said in a press statement.
Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said since its inception, the DPA has given the government the power to take into custody and detain persons deemed to be homeless or destitute for up to three years.
“This detention of the homeless has been going on for decades, and such exercises are regularly carried out in major cities throughout Malaysia.
“The DPA facilitates policing, harassment and forced removal of homeless persons from public spaces, thereby violating constitutional rights to Freedom of Movement, Equal Protection and Personal Liberty,” she said in a statement today.
She said Putrajaya does not seem to understand that homelessness is more than a poverty or welfare issue, and that each person is homeless for very different and intimately personal reasons.
“The government should aim at putting through new legislation that aims to help and re-house the homeless, instead of using legislation designed to make them ‘invisible’ by sending them to shelters involuntarily, or making it an offence to beg or receive alms.
“This will not stop their problems, nor will it stop other disadvantaged or vulnerable people from entering the streets,” she said. – July 8, 2014.
