State Policy

POVERTY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

INTRODUCTION

Poverty Financial Assistance Programme was implemented since Mac 2009. The main focused is to provide assistance to the head of the family (KIR). Assistance provided is a monthly financial assistance that help to increase KIR monthly income. Poverty Line Income (PLI) is RM770.00 and RM220.00 per capita. The list of PLI and per capita set by the Penang State Government in each years are as follow:

10 PENANG TOURISM KEY DEVELOPMENT THRUSTS

Formulated to ensure tourist arrivals in Penang reach at least 17.4 million people within five years (2008 - 2012)

THE 10 THRUSTS

1. Medical Tourism
2. Cultural, Heritage and Historical Tourism
3. Education Tourism
4. Location of choice for MNCs (Multi-National Companies) regional headquarters
5. MICE Centre (Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition)
6. Eco Tourism
7. Culinary Centre
8. Film Festivals, Cultural and Arts Centre
9. Sports Tourism, and
10. Shopping Haven and Industry

ACHIEVEMENT (2008 & 2009)

Tourist arrivals for the first two years of its implementation (2008 - 2009): 12,267,797 people

SENIOR CITIZENSHIP APPRECIATION PROGRAMME

This programme is an appreciation gesture by the Penang State Government to all senior citizens irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds, religions and political ideologies in recognition of their contributions

ELIGIBILITY

Age: 60 years and above
Registered voter in Penang
Registered with the Penang State Government for this programme

IMPLEMENTATION

Appreciation token in the form of RM100 (cash)
Every senior citizen who is eligible and registered with the Penang State Government will be awarded RM100 annually
Donation of RM1,000 to the family of the registered senior citizen upon his/her demise
The family of the registered senior citizen who pass away after 8th March 2010 will be given a donation of RM1,000 in the form of cash for funeral expenses
Development of i-Sejahtera Database System
A database system (i-Sejahtera) has been developed to monitor this programme implementation

ACHIEVEMENT (up to 18 OCT 2010)

Registered eligible senior citizens: 109,920
Recipients to date: 91,023
Recipients of registered senior citizens who passed away: 374

PENANG CAREER ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING CENTER (CAT)

Officiated by the Rt. Hon. Chief Minister on 4th March 2009 with initial grant of RM10 million (RM2.5 mil allocated in Phase 1)

• Managed by investPenang with support from State Government agencies which include both Municipal Councils, Penang Development Corporation and Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP)

• Smart partnership with JobStreet.com

ROLE OF CAT CENTRE

• Match retrenched workers or new workers with jobs and training programmes

• Work with members to create job opportunities and job attachment programmes

• Promote Penang and encourage people to live and work in the State, thereby increasing the talent pool to meet the demands of the industry and service sectors

• Reach out to students of all Institutes of Higher learning in Penang to woo and retain them to work Penang thru talks and promote the CAT website to them

ACHIEVEMENT (UP TO FEBRUARY 2012)

• Registered job seekers: 4,322

• Individual Registrants linked to potential employers: 3,433

• Recorded vacancies: 5,282

Set up CAT Website. From July 31st, 2011 – Feb 29th ,2012

• Total number of Hits 7220 from 37 countries/Territories

• % new visitors 57%

FURTHER ENQUIRIES

Contact Penang Career Assistance And Talent Center (CAT) at

1B11-02-03 and 1B11-02-05, Level 2, Komtar 10000 Penang

www.penangcatcentre.my

Tel: 2502170 and 2502172

HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

Initiated to provide comfortable and secure homes especially for the hardcore poor

IMPLEMENTATION

• Investigation and validation will be done at District and Land Offices and considered and approved by Penang State Economic Planning Unit

• Target groups are the lower income group and hardcore poor

• Assistance will be given in the form of cost of repair work amounting up to RM11,000 (max) for existing houses and RM30,000 (max) for newly constructed houses

ACHIEVEMENT (up to SEPT 2010)

• Total number of houses repaired under this programme : 99 houses

NO PLASTIC BAG DAY CAMPAIGN

Kempen ini dilancarkan pada 6 Julai 2009 dengan objektif utamanya adalah untuk mentransformasikan Pulau Pinang sebagai Negeri Hijau dan meningkatkan kesedaran rakyat Pulau Pinang mengenai kepentingan menjaga alam sekitar

PELAKSANAAN

• Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik pada asalnya dilaksanakan pada hari Isnin tetapi berdasarkan kepada maklumbalas positif yang diterima ianya telah ditambah ke tiga hari iaitu pada hari Isnin, Selasa dan Rabu bermula 1 Januari 2010

• Pelanggan yang memerlukan beg plastic akan dikenakan caj RM0.20 yang disalurkan ke tabung Rakan Anti Kemiskinan (RAK)

• Penyertaan dalam program ini adalah diwajibkan kepada semua pasaraya besar, pasaraya dan pasaraya mini memandangkan ianya telah dijadikan sebagai satu syarat wajib dalam pembaharuan lesen perniagaan

• Peruncit kecil turut diwajibkan tetapi hanya terhad kepada hari Isnin sahaja

PENCAPAIAN (OGOS 2010)

Purata bulanan menunjukkan lebih daripada 20,000 beg plastik telah dikurangkan bagi setiap pasaraya besar dan pasaraya sejak ianya dilancarkan

PENANG SCIENCE COUNCIL

Initiative to project Penang as a centre of engineering and scientific excellence and to spur the younger generation inclination towards science and technology

IMPLEMENTATION

• Driven by the private sector based on 5 outlined thrusts

• Council members include multinational corporations as well as representatives from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Wawasan Open University, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Inti International University

5 THRUSTS OF PENANG SCIENCE COUNCIL

• Sustainable education and learning to rekindle interest in science and technology amongst the young and students through talks by renowned successful entrepreneurs, competitions, quizzes and exhibitions in Penang. Led by MOTOROLA MALAYSIA

• Mentoring the young scientific entrepreneur by providing guidance, opportunity and funding through seed money to commercialise their ideas and inventions Led by MINI CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGIES MALAYSIA

• Nurturing the interest by establishing a Science Tech centre to showcase Penang rich history of success in inventions and innovations in its 35 years of industrialisation to spur new inventions. Led by MALAYSIAN AMERICAN ELECTRONIC INDUSTRY

• Innovation and research to continue Penang competitive edge of human talent. Penang has a proven track record as an outsourcing centre, sophisticated supply chain network and research and innovation facilities, which includes funding to encourage creative ideas and new inventions. Led by INTEL

• Life sciences & medical health to nurture the young to be interested in the field of life sciences and to gain more knowledge about industries in Penang. Led by BBRAUN

ACHIEVEMENT

• A website has been established at www.psc.org.my

• Under Sustainable Education & Learning Pillar

- 10 Apr 2010 - Mini National Research & Innovation Competition (NRIC) Science and Mathematics competition attended by 60+ schools.

- 26-29 May 2010 - NRIC Science Innovation Competition by 20 local and 5 foreign universities at USM.

GENDER EQUALITY POLICY

Initiated to ensure more women are given opportunity at decision making and policy formulation level

IMPLEMENTATION

• A new NGOs for example Good Governance and Gender Equality Society (3G) has been formed as the think tank to spearhead this policy. Members include politicians, academicians and representatives from other NGOs

• To formulate and implement short and long term programmes towards gender equality and social justice. An example of such programmes is Gender Equality Workshop series.

ACHIEVEMENT

• Six Introducing Gender Equality workshops have been organised in different media -Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin.

• Organised the International Conference on Gender Mainstreaming themed Gender Mainstreaming - Justice for All on 31st July to 1st August 2010 at Paradise Beach Hotel with participation of more than 200 participants both local and overseas. One of the speakers was from the United Nations.

HARDCORE POVERTY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

Initiated to ensure that Penang is free from hardcore poverty at all time

IMPLEMENTATION

• The Poverty Line Income (PLI) set by Penang State Government is at RM500 per family and RM100 per capita.

• Financial assistance provided ensures that eligible hardcore poverty families regardless of their backgrounds earn a household income of at least RM500. E.g.: Family A with a household income of RM300 per month will be given financial assistance of RM200 by the State Government to ensure that the household income for Family A is at a minimum of RM500.

• All State Departments and Agencies are involved in this program implementation

• Validation and monitoring are done by committees coordinated by the State Economic Planning Unit and the District and Land Offices.

ACHIEVEMENT (SEPT 2010)

• Number of families who receive monthly financial assistance: 755 families