THE eligibility criteria for the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) must be reviewed to remove the clause that prevents Malaysians with a foreign spouse from applying, said Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran today.

Rajiv said that the main objective of PPR was to safeguard the poorest communities by providing housing for people unable to buy or rent on the open market.

He added that the requirement for both husband and wife to be Malaysian is unfairly excluding genuine Malaysian families in need.

He said he recently received an appeal from a local resident whose application was rejected on the basis that his wife was a foreigner.

The DAP rep said that the man, who is in his 40s and didn’t want to be named, was recently told by his employer to find his own accommodation due to changing economic times.

He tried to secure a PPR home but was unable to submit the application online because his foreign wife did not possess a Malaysian identity card.

“This Malaysian is married to a foreigner and they have a 10-year-old daughter, who is also Malaysian.

“Although he matches all the criteria in the application, his only hindrance was that his wife is a foreigner.

“Hence, he becomes ineligible to apply for the PPR house because the rules are that both husband and wife must be Malaysian.

“He was unable to even submit his application online, because there was no field available to fill in (details) as his wife did not possess a Malaysian IC,” Rajiv told at a virtual press conference today.

The two-term assemblyman also mocked the criteria by saying that the man, who works at an old folks nursing home and is the sole breadwinner for the family, would be eligible if he divorced his wife.

“Of course, I’m not advising him to do this but this is the kind of sad situation that one would need to probably do to get a unit.

“Although his wife may not be a Malaysian, they are a Malaysian family. This country is the only home they have. This is the only home they know

“Yet, they have been denied the most basic necessity in life, a place to call home. Imagine living the life of a refugee in your own country,” he said.

The PPR scheme is the government’s social public housing initiative to resettle squatters and provide homes for low-income families, administered by the National Housing Department, a Ministry of Housing and Local Government agency and implemented through local governments.

The current criteria are the applicant must be earning less than RM3,000 a month; be at least 18 years old; not own any property; and husband and wife must be Malaysian.

Rajiv said that he has written to Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to review and prioritise the eligibility of the PPR homes, and give due consideration to individual applications.

“This is not even the B40, but the B10 group. Hence, this does not open the floodgates.

“This is a country level policy, not just a Petaling Jaya level issue.

“Having a non-Malaysian spouse does not make someone any less Malaysian or less deserving than other B40 applicants,” he said. – December 16, 2020.