MALAYSIAN PM NAJIB: DEVELOPMENT AGENDA TO BENEFIT ALL, INCLUDING THE DISABLED

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government will ensure that
its development agenda will benefit all sections of the society including people
with disabilities, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said.

He said the government's approach would be based on the principles of social
justice and inclusiveness to ensure that everyone gets to enjoy the country's
prosperity and not just a certain section of the society.

"All sections of the society, irrespective of whether they are able-bodied
or with disabilities, will be cared for in line with the social justice
principles," he said when opening the national-level Centre for Rehabilitation
in Community (PDK) sale carnival at Stadium Titiwangsa, Taman Tasik Titiwangsa,
here Saturday.

Present were his wife Rosmah Mansor and Women, Family and Community
Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Najib said to achieve this, the government would develop a system to fully
realise the potentials of each and every person in the country, especially those
with disabilities.

He said the government had already set that one per cent of civil servants
should be appointed from among the disabled.

Although the target had yet to be fully achieved, the government was
committed to fulfilling the percentage, he said, adding that the private sector
also played an important role in offering employment opportunities to this
group.

"They are not seeking for sympathy; what they want is the opportunity to
stand on their feet and contribute to the society," he said.

He added that the effort to assist people with disabilities was part of the
"1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now" concept and entrenched in the
Economic Transformation Plan and New Economic Model which aimed to turn Malaysia
into a developed nation by 2020.

He also called on parents to equip themselves with parenting skills, saying
some of the disabilities among children, such as those caused by illness like
high fever, could have been prevented had they known what should be done.

-- BERNAMA