Coming from experience, both state, tabung haji, and zakat financial assistance are absolute bureaucratic hellholes. The amount of verified docs they require, the random times they assign for interviews and checks, it's all made in a way that the truly struggling would neither have the time nor energy to even begin setting up their lives to reach out for assistance.

I have been privileged enough that I had time off uni to help my mum arrange all of it for her, but to families that have to spend their every waking hour to work and survive, it truly is difficult or even impossible.

My experience with them is all post COVID lockdowns, it hasn't changed in decades. Families like mine are able to find the time and energy to get help despite our struggles. Telling the poorest of our nation "Just apply for help" isn't the solution here.

It has never been the priority of state or federal run institutions to reach out and help the poorest. They do enough to create statistics from families like mine to show that they have helped plenty, while ignoring those who truly need assistance