Putrajaya bestows national award on SAA

SIBU: Sibu Autistic Association (SAA) was awarded the national Best OKU (Persons with Disabilities) NGO Award 2023 by the federal government recently.

Its president David Ngu said this is the greatest achievement and highest recognition from the government ever won in SAA’s history.

“Congratulations and well done to all,” he said, stressing that work will continue to bring about a better life for all.

Ngu was speaking at a SAA & Taska Autisme Sibu (TAS) graduation dinner cum Christmas celebration hosted by SAA here on Friday (Dec 8).

The occasion was graced by Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng.

Ngu said starting with three autism children and three trainers 22 years ago, SAA has trained around 1,000 children in the region of Sibu to date.

In 2014, he said SAA has been selected by the goverment to start TAS, which is the only OKU Taska in Sarawak , and the only OKU Taska for autism in Malaysia.

“Taking care of autistic children is never easy and is very costly. Our annual operation cost in running this programme is more than RM500,000 per year and the school fee that we collect can only cover a quarter of the expenses.

“That is why we need lots of funding from government and public to sustain this community project,” he asserted.

According to Ngu, in Malaysia, every year there would be around 9,000 new babies diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and more than 100 new cases in Sibu alone annually.

With high figures of ASD in Sibu, he pointed out it is very crucial for SAA to expand the current premises so that more autism children will have opportunities to get their proper treatment and training as soon as possible.

That is why we launched the new building project in 2020, he said, adding that with this new building, SAA may accommodate around 200 children at a time.

Stating that the application process for the project has gone smoothly, he said, currently it is left to the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) to give the green light, and once it is done, SAA will start the construction work, pending financial availability.

“The project will cost us more than RM3 million. We really need everyone’s generosity, in helping us to achieve this dream as up to date, we have only managed to raise RM300,000. Let’s build a home for children with autism, we will build their hope for future.

“We want to thank many of our donors who have been supporting us all these years, and to express my greatest appreciation to Chieng for his caring and support for the Agape Centre even though it is not within his constituency,” he said.

He later presented long service awards to three staff, namely, Winnie Siong, Kong Su Yiean and Kong Su Hui.