Handout photo shows Chang speaking to a welfare recipient in front of BSN Sibu.
SIBU (Aug 5): The Welfare Department (JKM) has been asked to resolve the issue of requiring monthly welfare aid recipients here to open a new account at Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) Sibu.
Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang called the directive illogical as BSN Sibu could only serve about 20 customers requiring this service per day.
“As a result, this is causing long queues and extreme frustration as lots of people were turned away despite queuing from early in the morning. And some of them are elderly people, who are physically inconvenienced,” she claimed in a media statement.
According to her it is also difficult to observe standard operating procedures (SOPs) when queuing outside the bank as there are insufficient waiting spaces.
From feedback gathered, Chang claimed the aid recipients were told to open new accounts at BSN, which still accepts cheques, as their original accounts at CIMB Bank would be moving to an online platform.
“I further understand that if these persons can convert their saving accounts to the online platform in CIMB, they won’t have any need to send them to BSN for the new account.
“The question is why is JKM not agreeing to the conversion from manual to online when the latter is obviously more convenient and safer, especially during these pandemic days?” she asked.
Chang claimed there was no reason to resist the conversion as digital platforms, including those in banks, are the primary element in the digital economy that the state government has been so zealously promoting.
“I therefore call upon Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah and JKM to look urgently into this impasse between JKM, CIMB Bank, and BSN in Sibu and which is causing a lot of hardship to the social welfare recipients in Sibu,” she added.