Jan 5, 05 7:22pm
About 21 families in two fishing villages in Penang � Kampung Pulau Betong and Sungai Batu � which were hit by the tsunami 10 days ago, have claimed that they have not received any aid from the government.
They said their houses and boats were destroyed during the disaster and that they are living on donations from the public.
To date, they have only received a donation of RM200 from the Penang Religious Department. The survivors � comprising nine Malay and twelve Chinese families � are among the 150 families that lived in the two villages.
They narrated their plight to Youth members of Party Keadilan Rakyat who visited them last Friday to distribute food, clothing and cash.
Badrul Hisham Shahrin, who headed the group, said a victim claimed that aid was not extended to them because their names are not on the list of victims. They have not been
able to obtain help from authorities contacted.
Sidelined
�Their houses were destroyed, so were their boats...and they are now living in makeshift shelters.
Why are they being sidelined when they were the ones who need the aid most?� he asked.
Badrul Hisham also claimed that Umno has tried to gain political mileage from the tragedy by monopolising the distribution of aid to the victims.
�When we tried to distribute food to the victims, Umno workers told us to leave the items at their operations room, saying they would do the rest,� he claimed.
�Our worry is that victims who are not their supporters will not get aid. Many in Kedah and Penang have claimed that they have being sidelined.�
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