Single mother, daughters in dire straits sleep in car

Siti Hajar Ismail, 35, and her daughters Siti Zubaidah Zubaidi, aged eight and Siti Zulaikah, six, were compelled to face the dire circumstances after her job as an assistant at a food outlet in Taman Merdeka here was terminated.

Prior to this, she said her family had stayed at her cousin's house at Tanjung Minyak here before taking the decision to leave as she did not want to burden her relatives.

"I have continue sleeping in the car parked in front of my friend's house in Taman Merdeka and take my bath there after I let my daughers stay at my cousin's house again," she told reporters when met at the Malacca Barisan Nasional Service Centre here on Thursday.

Siti Hajar said she also could not afford to renew her car's road tax which expired last Aug 8 but was forced to use it to look for jobs and meet her children.

As a result, she could not afford to send Siti Zubaidah, who is a pupil at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Parit Melana Durian Tunggal, Alor Gajah to school.

Meanwhile, Malacca BN Pembela director Amir Hamzah Aziz said temporary accomodation would be arranged for Siti Hajar and her daughters at the Malacca Islamic Religious Council's Islamic Centre hostel here.

"They can start staying in the hostel today (yesterday) while the Malacca Housing Board gets a house at Kampung Padang here for them soon," he said.

He said Siti Hajar would also be given assistance to start a franchise business selling buns under the 1Azam income generation programme.