LETTER | Please offer cash to families affected by tragedies

LETTER | The government has promised that the families of the victims of the Elmina private plane crash on Aug 17, which killed 10 people, will be assisted.

Families of Malaysian citizens who die in tragedies need to be aided by way of a special hand-out by the government, state or federal, as the case may be.

In many countries, even in developing ones like India, surviving family members of people who die in major tragedies are given special assistance by either the state or central government.

This allocation reduces the immediate financial burden of the family as it copes with the loss of their loved ones who could be sole breadwinners.

This is a compassionate hand-out and should be encouraged. In India one comes across families whose loved ones were killed in various accidents and tragedies, especially the major ones, receiving as much as one million rupees (about RM56,296).

This is a large sum of money given on compassionate grounds. This is a large sum of money given on compassionate grounds.

Numerous fatalities

In Malaysia, we have seen similar accidents and tragedies. Other than the government stating that help will be rendered, there is no further news of any monetary assistance being given.

Recently, there was a tragedy in Terengganu in which about 10 picnickers were swept away by a sudden water surge. I have not come across any official news stating that their families will receive monetary assistance. This also applies to the Elmina victims.

There was also a traffic accident in December 2021 which killed a mother and her eight children on the Elite Highway near Subang Jaya.

In the last decade, there have been many tragedies arising from floods, drowning, fires, attacks by wild animals, natural disasters, or accidents involving numerous fatalities, but few or none, of the family members have received a reasonable sum as aid to tide over the tragedy.

Humanitarian initiative

Personal donations of money by politicians or others are not enough. It must be noted that families of Malaysians who died of Covid-19 were paid RM5,000 as a result of the initiative by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Members of the affected family will be grateful to the government for any official help. Not all the victims could have personal insurance.

There is no point in calling ourselves Keluarga Malaysia or Madani society if these values cannot be translated into aid to families of the unfortunate victims who died in a tragedy.

It must become a standard practice by the government to offer cash aid to these victims, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim can make this humanitarian initiative one of the distinguishing features of his Madani government.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.