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Soup kitchen defies order, no sign of city hall officers

Despite the threat of being fined by City Hall, defiant soup kitchens have continued to feed the homeless in the city centre.

There was no sign of city hall enforcement officers at any food distribution points last night.

Founding member of Pertiwi (Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam Malaysia) Soup Kitchen, Munirah Abdul Hamid, said that there had been no presence of city hall officers during Pertiwi’s food distribution rounds at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman or Kotaraya.

"Let them come. We won't stop," said Munirah last night.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has come under heavy criticism for his ban on feeding activities for the homeless within a 2km radius of the Lot 10 shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang area.

Last week he warned that City Hall would fine those who continued to feed the homeless.

He said that soup kitchens were responsible for encouraging laziness among the homeless as well as for littering the streets and attracting pests that bring about diseases such as Leptospirosis.

Munirah (pic) added that she would also be heading to a meeting with the ministry to discuss the issue of homelessness and beggars in the city.

However, she was initially not invited to the meeting and had to get hold of one of the officers in the ministry to secure her attendance.

“We will settle this like adults and in the most polite manner. There is a solution to this homelessness problem and we pitched the idea before, something that we will inform them again in the meeting today," Munirah said.

However, the ongoing Ops Qaseh by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to round up the destitute and beggars nationwide has spooked many homeless.

Adrian Lim, who has been volunteering with the Pertiwi soup kitchen once a week, said numbers have dropped since the Federal Territory Minster’s warning.

He said that numbers are usually lower during Ramadan season, but due to rumours that Pertiwi Soup Kitchen had ceased operations, and for fear of city hall raids such as Ops Qaseh, people have been scared to show up.

“Normally we have around 700 people to feed, but today the number seemed to have reduced to half.”

Lim added that the homeless were not an ignorant bunch and that they already knew the government was thinking of rounding them up. “I am sure some have gone into hiding,” he said.

Lim said two weeks ago, officials from the Department of Social Welfare had dropped by to observe and take pictures of Pertiwi’s operations and that some of them had even spoken to the homeless.

“They watched us from a distance, but when we asked them to join us, they refused. You could also hear the homeless grumbling and asking us about this odd move by the officials, they clearly distrust the authorities,” Lim said.

Yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said that tourists were taking advantage of the free food distributed by soup kitchens.

Lim said Rohani could have been misinformed.

He said that the people who were in need of a hot meal were mostly locals, many of whom were males above the age of 50. – July 8, 2014.