Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Arif urges husbands in Sabah to contribute to the Housewives Social Security Scheme or Skim Keselamatan Sosial Suri Rumah (SKSSR) so that their non-working spouses are protected in the aspect of social security.

Speaking at the launching of the scheme implemented by SOCSO yesterday, Arifin said the SKSSR is a recognition of the housewives who act as a ‘care economy’ as well as the development of household institutions.

It is also important to ensure that a holistic protection of ‘no one left behind’ can be provided in addition to being able to protect housewives from any unforeseen circumstances, he said when officiating the event which was held in conjunction with SOCSO’s career roadshow that was organised at ILP Kota Kinabalu in Sepanggar on Saturday.

The SKSSR was enforced on December 1 2022 and was created to ensure that the housewives get comprehensive protection in terms of social security.

Arifin pointed out that the SKSSR also proves that the Malaysian government always strives to ensure social protection for all Malaysians and Malaysia is the fourth country in the world to provide special social security protection benefits to housewives.

“Based on SOCSO’s excellent experience and performance in administering the social security scheme through three acts, namely the Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4), the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme Act (Act 789) and the Employment Insurance System Act (Act 800), I am sure and believe that SOCSO has sufficient credibility and expertise to administer and implement SKSSR to all groups of housewives in Malaysia.

“This scheme is expected to benefit more than 2.99 million housewives throughout Malaysia. As a sign of the government’s commitment and support to the implementation of SKSSR, a total of RM20 million has been allocated to protect 150,000 housewives who are eligible and registered through the e-Kasih database. Hopefully it will benefit those involved.

“Thus I call on all husbands to fulfill their responsibility to contribute to the SKSSR on behalf of their wives. In addition to that, I sincerely hope that community leaders, people’s representatives, NGOs, the private sector and others who have the ability and allocation to support the implementation of the SKSSR protection can assist through sponsorship to their respective target groups,” Arifin said.

Touching on the career roadshow, he said that SOCSO Sabah had organised the program earlier in the districts of Keningau, Tawau, Semporna and Sandakan with Kota Kinabalu being the last destination.

“The program in the four districts involved a total of 54 employers and was well received. In Keningau 161 job seekers registered and 19 of them were successfully employed. For Tawau, a total of 242 job seekers attended and 25 got jobs. Semporna district recorded the presence of 111 job seekers and 21 of them were accepted for work. Sandakan recorded the highest number of jobseekers so far which is 312 people and 92 of them were successful in getting jobs,” Arifin said.

According to him, the program in Kota Kinabalu involved 26 employers with more than 1,000 job opportunities offered to job seekers.

“This is the government’s continuous effort to ensure that job seekers including those in vulnerable groups in the state get job opportunities from various sectors thus addressing the issue of unemployment and job loss experienced by Malaysians following the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

Arifin said that the state government is also putting in efforts to reduce unemployment as the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor has put plans in motion to attract investors so that jobs can be created for the locals.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by The Borneo Post

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