Big boo-boo as electrical appliances given to homeless

Federal Territories Ministry show they know very little about what the homeless need most.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Territories Ministry showed they knew very little about what the city’s homeless need most like clothes, food and money instead of fancy electrical gadgets to make coffee or mix cake batters.

However that is precisely what 2,000 homeless guests received as Christmas presents at an open house hosted by the ministry last year.

According to the Malay Mail Online, Pertiwi Soup Kitchen founder Munirah Abdul Hamid did suggest to officials that a few days’ worth of food or even clothing were more appropriate gifts that the homeless would appreciate.

Politely describing the gifts of electrical appliances as a “nice gesture”, she did however add, “…we must understand these people don’t even have a place to stay, let alone a place to operate their coffee maker or cooking stove.”

She added, “Some of them came up to me and asked if I would like to buy the appliances as money would have been more valuable to them.”

Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan meanwhile said, “Normally we (the ministry) would hand out cash at our open houses, as previously done during Chinese New Year and Deepavali celebrations.

“But this time around, because it was Christmas, we decided on giving gifts instead.”

Saying he appreciated the feedback from NGOs, he explained that his ministry had never held a gathering for Christmas before so “shortcomings” were expected.

“Next year, we will improve and give something else to the homeless,” he pledged.

Besides the truly unusual, and well… let’s just say it, useless gifts, many guests also left the open house just as hungry as they were before they came, because food was insufficient.

The minister said, “I know more than expected came but we did not stop them from coming. However, the food was catered for 2,000 guests and there was not enough for more.”

He however did maintain an optimistic view and said, “But I am happy with the outcome as everyone had fun and I am satisfied with the support of the NGOs.”