PayNet launches digital aid for Sabah

Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) has partnered with Gobarakah Tech (Gobarakah) to deliver targeted relief to rural communities impacted by floods and landslides in Penampang, Sabah. 

The digital flood relief supported over 140 individuals from 47 households in heavily-affected areas, including Kampung Madsiang, Kampung Sogumau, Kampung Inobong, Kampung Limbata, and Country Heights.

This marks PayNet’s first digital aid initiative in rural Sabah and its second relief effort for Penampang. Beneficiaries were verified and onboarded onto Gobarakah’s platform, receiving e-vouchers, enabling impacted households to redeem essential goods via Koperasi Wawasan Rakyat Sabah’s mobile supply trucks and local grocery stores. Earlier this year, PayNet also supported repairs at the Madsiang Community Learning Centre (under Moyoq Innovation House) damaged by the 2024 floods.

“The current monsoon season has heavily impacted the residents of Penampang. Our goal was to provide greater control and flexibility in the flood aid relief to the impacted residents. This digital approach in partnership with Gobarakah, empowers beneficiaries to choose what they needed and assures donors that contributions reach the intended recipients,” said Farhan Ahmad, Group CEO of PayNet.

Source: PayNet. Representatives from PayNet and Gobarakah together with residents from Penampang.

MUIS launches new COVID-19 relief fund

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) will allocate S$1.6 million for the COVID-19 Muis Support Fund (CMSF) to help ease financial burden of households affected by the economic uncertainty resulting from the current pandemic. The support fund aims to assist 4,000 households with each eligible household receiving a one-off assistance of S$400.

Since the start of 2020, Muis has seen a noticeable increase in the number of families receiving zakat monthly financial assistance. To further help families in need, Muis will be providing additional support from zakat. In April, Muis had announced that families receiving zakat financial assistance would be automatically renewed for six months when their assistance expires.

The Singapore Fatwa Committee agreed in May 2020 that those impacted financially by COVID-19 through loss of jobs, or whose household incomes are drastically affected, will qualify for zakat assistance. The committee further recommends that aid can be put together drawing from at least three traditional categories: (fakir miskin¹, gharimin², fisabilillah³ and riqab⁴).

In doing so, Muis as the zakat authority will be able to preserve and retain the use of the traditional categories for existing cases, whilst dedicating funds for a new category of recipients who face financial hardships due to the pandemic. This will also demonstrate the responsiveness of zakat as a tool for financial assistance in times of need more directly, Muis said, and also act as a stimulus to encourage Muslims to come forward and help.

CMSF assistance is open to individuals who are not current beneficiaries of zakat or ComCare financial assistance, and extra consideration will be given to those who have not received any COVID-19 related assistance. The support fund also seeks to financially support families whose children’s Islamic learning classes had to be disrupted due to lack of means.

The CMSF also aims to assist people who are self-employed and employees who have been affected by the economic impact of COVID-19. As such, individuals who have not been in employment before the start of the COVID-19 period would not be eligible⁵.

Muis will also allocate S$200,000 under CMSF to support asatizah and their families during the pandemic. The asatizah have been adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, particularly those who are self-employed and doing freelance teaching. This is due to the earlier mosque closures and continued suspension of physical classes at mosques.

The one-off top-up grant will be channelled to asatizah through the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association’s (Pergas) Gracious Package. This package is a financial assistance scheme initiated by Pergas and offered to asatizah in March 2020, at the onset of the lockdown. The topup grant will be utilised to provide more support for current Gracious Package recipients and also to support new applicants.

Details:

Applications for the CMSFwill be open until the end of August 2020. At the end of the application exercise, Muis will shortlist 4,000 applications who are most in need based on their per capita income.

To apply, click here.

¹ Fakir is a category when the individuals has neither material possessions nor means of livelihood; one who suffers, and has no means to sustain his/her daily needs. The definition of miskin refers to when an individual has insufficient means of livelihood to meet his /her basic needs.

² Gharimin is the category when an individual is in debt and needs assistance to meet his/her basic needs.

³ Fisabilillah is when an individual strives in the cause of Allah for the betterment of the community.

⁴ The category of riqab in Singapore refers to those who require some assistance to pursue their education, children of zakat recipients. More details of the above categories of beneficiaries of zakat (asnaf) can be found at www.muis.gov.sg/Zakat/About/Beneficiaries-of-Zakat-Asnaf

⁵ 23 January 2020 is the date determined as to when COVID-19 first occurred in Singapore.

Singapore's RLAF opens up channels for donations to Myanmar flood victims

All 69 mosques in Singapore, in collaboration with Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF), are participating in a fund raising effort in aid of flood victims in Myanmar.

According to a statement by the RLAF, 12 out of 14 states and regions in Myanmar are suffering from the effects of severe flooding, with four regions designated as disaster zones. The cyclone-battered western state of Rakhine is the hardest hit. The RLAF notes that over 100 people have died and more than 1 million are deemed "critically affected" by the rising floods, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"Thi s is the worst natural disaster since Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140 ,000 people in May 2008," noted the RLAF in a statement.

Funds collected will be handed over to Mercy Relief which is currently on the ground to provide relief and aid in the form of food, clean water, medicine and basic necessities and possibly the rebuilding of homes devastated by the floods.

Interested?

Donation boxes have been placed at all 69 mosques and will be open up to Friday, 21 August 2015. All boxes will be marked Special Collection for Victims of Myanmar Floods.

Members of the public can also offer donations in cash or by cheque. All cheques should be made payable to RLAF with Special Collection In Aid of Victims of Myanmar Floods written on the back. Cash and cheques can be delivered to the Muis Building at the Singapore Islamic Hub, No 273, Braddell Road Singapore 579702. In addition, the public can make their contributions online up to 31 August 2015.

KSA, UAE send help to Yemen

Humanitarian relief has been arriving in Yemen. The third installment of medical relief by King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action arrived in Saioon city on board three trucks coming from KSA through the Alwadaia'ah land border crossing point, the Saudi Press Agency has reported.

Another report from Emirates news agency WAM shared that the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) handed out Eid al-Fitr gifts to 5,000 displaced children in the southeastern Yemeni province of Hadramaut. ERC teams delivered electronic toys, sweets and painting tools to makeshift shelters in the province.

The Emirati humanitarian agency has on-going operations in Yemen to provide basic educational, health and social services for children.