Answer for Oral Question PL251

QUESTION

Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Isa bin Pengiran Haji Aliuddin

YANG BERHORMAT PENGIRAN HAJI ISA BIN PENGIRAN HAJI ALIUDDIN asks YANG BERHORMAT Menteri Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan to state whether the Ministry can review and reassess the eligibility requirements for the SKN assistance scheme in a more transparent manner? This is in view of the fact that there are applicants who were rejected even though their salaries are insufficient to support their large family dependants, giving rise to concerns about fairness during the assistance assessment process.

ANSWER

Yang Berhormat Menteri Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan

1. Thank you Yang Berhormat Pehin Yang Di-Pertua and Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Isa bin Pengiran Haji Aliuddin for the question regarding the Ministry's plan to review and reassess the eligibility requirements for the SKN assistance scheme.

2. First of all, peramba/kaola/I would like to explain that SKN is a system used as a platform to receive and process applications for Monthly Welfare Assistance, Zakat Distribution Assistance for Asnaf Fakir and Miskin and Annual Schooling Necessities Assistance. In the aspect of transparency in processing assistance applications, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports always takes this matter seriously to ensure that the assistance extended remains relevant to current circumstances.

3. For the information of Your Honourable Members, in determining the eligibility of assistance recipients, this Ministry refers to the Minimum Cost of Basic Needs (KMKA) produced by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (JPES) based on the Household Expenditure Survey in 2015/2016. The KMKA calculation is produced through a detailed analysis of the cost of basic needs that must be met by a household, including taking into account the number of dependants and household expenditure. This information is used as an important basis in determining the eligibility of assistance applications. Eligibility to receive assistance according to KMKA is also aligned according to the ratio and equivalence value of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-Modified to standardise an appropriate amount of assistance for each member in a family or household. The OECD-Modified equivalence value is used by most countries around the world as a measure in assessing income inequality and the level of low-income groups in a country. KMKA and the OECD-Modified equivalence value are combined and used as a measure to assess the eligibility of a household or an individual in receiving assistance (means-testing).

4. As a continuing effort to ensure that the criteria used remain relevant to current socio-economic conditions and are more inclusive of the various backgrounds of applicants, JAPEM is currently in the process of updating the eligibility guidelines for monthly welfare assistance assessment.

5. As part of this updating process, JAPEM is also conducting workshops involving members of the Monthly Welfare Assistance Assessment Committee, Penghulu-Penghulu and Ketua-Ketua Kampung as well as the relevant agencies to obtain input for improvements according to their respective portfolios. This workshop aims to reassess the existing criteria and assessment approaches and to propose improvements to enhance transparency and fairness in making decisions on assistance applications.

6. That is all that can be commented on, junjung kasih / thank you.