Compiled by ARFA YUNUS, TAN SIN CHOW AND R. ARAVINTHAN
A SINGLE mother and her five children have been surviving on the money earned by the eldest child who is only 15 years old, Malaysia Nanban reported.
The family matriarch, identified as Muniammah, 35, has been living with her children in a dilapidated wooden house in Kampung Hassan near Changkat Asa estate in Ulu Bernam.
They have been staying there for two weeks without any running water, electricity or toilet.
The teenager, the eldest brother to four siblings aged nine, seven, four and one, works at a car workshop in the evenings after school, and this is the only income for the family.
The mother, who is expecting a sixth child in another month, said she has not managed to get the one-year-old’s birth certificate.
Hulu Selangor Samuga Nala Iyakkam chairman Subramaniam and Hulu Bernam Parivumikka Samuga Nala Iyakkam president Abdul Ghani Abdullah visited the family and promised to help them find a better house to live in.
The family will also be referred to the Welfare Department.
Meanwhile, the organisations are also working on getting them basic necessities, including food.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
