The Star News : Monday July 27, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese make up a huge number of old folk abandoned at welfare homes.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said 33% of the residents in government-run old folk homes were Chinese.
At the same time, the Chinese only make up about 25% of the 27 million Malaysians.
Last year, 125 of the 293 old folk abandoned at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and 11 of those 24 dumped at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban were Chinese.
Chew, who is also Wanita MCA chief, said the statistics “certainly did not augur well” for a community in which filial piety was much revered as a traditional value.
In Singapore, where 75% of the population are Chinese, a law has been enforced since 1996 to compel children to care for their aged parents.
Those parents aged above 60 years and who do not have the means of supporting themselves, can sue their children for upkeep under the Maintenance of Parents Act.
There were 127 new cases of parents suing their children for support last year, as compared to 109 in 2007 and 79 in 2006.
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