THE establishment of the Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) Foundation which involves the opening of new offices, office renovation and emoluments for new staff, will not incur additional costs to the government.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Abdul Latiff Ahmad said this was because the Shared Prosperity Delivery Unit (Sepadu) would act as the secretariat that would be supporting the foundation’s operations.

“Sepadu will be carrying out the secretarial and coordination duties with available resources and it does not involve other additional costs,” he said during the winding up session of Supply Bill 2022 at the policy level in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the foundation was established to complement the government’s efforts in protecting children who have lost their parents and guardians due to Covid-19 by focusing on their welfare and social development.

He also assured that YKM would not interfere or affect any other organisations, including non-governmental organisations that work closely to provide assistance to the needy.

Meanwhile, Latiff said the government, through the Malaysia Social Protection Council was developing a Social Protection Database containing profile information on Malaysians and social protection programmes from various ministries and agencies.

He said the database would be the single gateway as well as the main source of reference for social protection programmes that cover employment, social insurance and social assistance.

“(The database) for the Social Assistance Module is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022,” he said.

In another development, Latiff said as of November 1, the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) had paid the Covid-19 Death Management Special Assistance to 6,584 eligible beneficiaries with a total pay-out of RM32.92 million.

He said there is no due date for the aid, which is channelled to the Nadma Covid-19 Fund through public donations. – Bernama, November 15, 2021.