{"id":10219,"date":"2021-07-06T23:02:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T15:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=10219"},"modified":"2021-07-06T23:02:06","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T15:02:06","slug":"home-ministry-launches-op-bantu-to-channel-food-aid-to-the-needy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=10219","title":{"rendered":"Home Ministry launches &#8216;Op Bantu&#8217; to channel food aid to the needy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 &#8212; The Home Ministry launched Op Bantu today to help&nbsp;any individuals facing food shortages amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said all district police headquarters in the country will serve as food\u00a0aid distribution centers under\u00a0the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn the field, Op Bantu will be led by 157 district police chiefs and involve the Aman Wanita (Amanita) squad under the Royal Malaysia\u00a0Police as well as the People\u2019s Volunteer Corps (RELA) at the district level who are assigned to deliver immediate assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png\" alt=\"op bantu\" class=\"wp-image-10220\" width=\"503\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png 590w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08-183x100.png 183w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08-350x191.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRELA members on the ground are also assigned to conduct patrols to obtain information for the purpose of channeling aid to any individual who needs immediate help,\u201d he said at a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Training Centre (Pulapol) here today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hamzah said the implementation of\u00a0Op Bantu is a strategic collaboration with the Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday the distribution of almost&nbsp;50,000 food aid baskets&nbsp;throughout the&nbsp;country has been done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, he asked any individual in need of food to inform the nearest district police headquarters, and those who are unable to go are asked to contact them on&nbsp;the official phone numbers or the Op Bantu WhatsApp number which&nbsp;will be announced later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also present at the launch was Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rina said the initiative is a social effort&nbsp;to help those&nbsp;in need during the COVID-19 pandemic and a proactive reaction to the issues and situations currently faced by society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Of course the program held today will fit the concept of no one is left behind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her statement, Rina said the strategic collaboration between the&nbsp;two&nbsp;ministries will continue even after the pandemic is brought under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In line with the whole-of-government\u00a0concept, cooperation between our ministries, through the agencies under them, will create\u00a0community engagement to combat social ills, help the needy, and curb crime,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/news.php?id=1979638\">BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 &#8212; The Home Ministry launched Op Bantu today to help&nbsp;any individuals&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08-300x164.png",300,164,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-07-06-at-23.00.08.png",590,322,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=524\" rel=\"category\">Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10221,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10219\/revisions\/10221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}