By Azian Aziz
CHERAS, Feb 23 — Approximately 2,565 out of 3,985 elderly residents in the Pandan Indah state constituency who registered for Skim Mesra Usia Emas (SMUE) have received the Jom Shopping vouchers that have been allocated for this year.
Pandan Indah community service center manager Nariza Zain said they are still waiting for the remaining 1,420 recipients to collect their vouchers, before the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved sometime around mid-June.
"We distributed the vouchers on February 14, with tomorrow the last day. Since the distribution period began, on average 400 recipients have come to the centre to collect their vouchers.
"We will continue to inform the public via social media and WhatsApp, calling on senior citizens who have yet to collect their vouchers, urging them to do so at the centre," she said during the Jelajah Ehsan Rakyat roadshow for Pandan Indah, at Kampung Cheras Baru earlier today.
Nariza added the state constituency has also received 2,000 new SMUE applications this year.
"We will endeavour to process the applications as speedily as possible, so that all eligible applicants can their vouchers for the year before June," she said.
First introduced over a decade ago as a gesture of appreciation for Selangor’s elderly population, each SMUE recipient enjoys the benefit of birthday gift vouchers and death benefits.
Starting this year, the vouchers’ value was increased to RM150, with the same amount provided to Skim Mesra Insan Istimewa (SMIS) recipients, involving an allocation of RM37.5 million.
The monthly household income eligibility limit for Jom Shopping voucher recipients has also been increased from RM2,000 to RM3,000.
Previously, SMUE recipients received a RM100 shopping voucher for select supermarkets in their birth month, which was handed to them at the community service centre of their respective state constituency.
