Govt Drafting Guidelines For PwD-friendly Facilities In Mosques, Surau - Zulkifli

TANJONG MALIM, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The government is drafting guidelines to implement facilities that are friendly to persons with disabilities (PwDs) at all mosques and surau nationwide, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan.

Zulkifli said the guidelines will be implemented under the Action Plan of Religious Agencies for Muslim PwDs, and several rounds of discussions with relevant stakeholders have been held so far.

“This is one of our projects under Religious Affairs. Alhamdulillah, we recently trained imams and teachers to teach Braille. In addition, MAIWP (Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council) has sponsored e-Braille or e-Dot systems in the form of laptops for use by PwDs,” he said.

He said this to reporters after officiating the ‘MADANI Membantu: Ziarah Kasih Rahmah (ZIKIR) 2026’ with the Behrang community here today.

Meanwhile, Zulkifli said that although some mosques nationwide already have facilities for PwDs, further improvements are still needed.

“There are mosques that, alhamdulillah, are already at the forefront, having received awards and implemented various programmes that are friendly to PwDs. For example, some mosques now provide sign language interpretation during sermons,” he said.

He said that while wider implementation may not be easy, it is achievable with determination, strong commitment and proper planning.

Meanwhile, Zulkifli, who is also chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Malaysian Waqf Foundation (YWM), said today’s programme was a strategic collaboration involving YWM, the Masjid Al-Hidayah Behrang committee, federal and state government agencies, strategic partners and volunteers to enhance the well-being of the local community.

Among the initiatives carried out were the distribution of food boxes to 150 heads of households and supporting more than 500 residents through the provision of free petrol and a complimentary breakfast programme for the local community.

In addition, the programme also offered services such as waqf counters, advisory services and free health screenings, enabling the public to access multiple services at a single location.

-- BERNAMA