Homeless family of 10 now taking shelter at private learning centre

Roziah Yusuf, 42, a Thai national, and her family will stay there until the investigation on their case is completed.

Prior to this, they were allowed a day's stay at the Kuala Lumpur Transit Centre for the Homeless.

The woman claimed that her family was made homeless and that they had to beg for a living as they could not afford to pay the house rent in Cheras Baru where they had been residing with her Myanmar husband.

The woman, who has seven children aged between 17 months and 20 years and two grandchildren aged three and nine, said her husband died in an accident at Lorong Haji Taib 4, here late last year.

"We have been living in this country for 18 years ...my late husband had been supporting us but now that he has gone ... we are totally lost," she told Bernama.

Roziah, who was tearful when interviewed, said she did not take her family to the transit centre as they were not citizens of Malaysia.

"But now, I'm grateful that we are given shelter and that many people have come forward to provide assistance," she said.

Last Wednesday, a Facebook account holder, Shahrul Nizam, uploaded the family's photograph on his page, with a caption saying that the woman and her family had to resort to living on a five-foot way corridor as she could not afford the rent after her husband died.

Meanwhile, a staff at the transit centre who insisted anonymity, said the Federal Territories Ministry would provide shelter to Roziah and her family for a day on humanitarian grounds.

"Actually, they cannot stay at the centre because they are not Malaysian citizens.

"However, further investigation will be carried out as we were made to understand that her children and grandchildren were born here," the staff said adding that the case would be handed over to the Immigration Department for further action.

Meanwhile, Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) Baitulmal said Roziah and her family had been given aid twice, with the latest on July 13.

MAIWP Baitumal, in its Facebook page, also said this was the third time the story of the family had gone viral and that Baitulmal had been helping the woman since 2015, and had even recommended that the case be referred to the Thai Embassy and Immigration Department.

Baitulmal also said the woman had, on June 18, 2015, claimed that her husband was imprisoned in Terengganu, and that her family had been renting a house in Taman Muda, Cheras at RM250 per month.

However on July 13 this year, the woman claimed her husband had died in an accident.