Three widows whose husbands were shot dead by the police earlier this year have appealed to National Unity and Social Development Minister Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman a second time to provide them with emergency funds amounting to RM60,000.

The three letters, dated Nov 20 and signed by their lawyer, P Uthayakumar, who is also the pro tem secretary of Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia, demanded RM20,000 in emergency funds and an additional RM1,000 per month for each woman.

Two women, Vasanti Perumal and Jeyanthi Sinniah, are pregnant while the third, Saraswathy Kannan, is a mother of four young children aged three to eleven. They wrote to the minister via Uthayakumar in September and October with an identical appeal for help, without any response from the minister.

The three also met with the ministry parliamentary secretary S Veerasingam in Dewan Rakyat when handing him a memo on police shootings prepared by Prim on Nov 1.

At the meeting, witnessed by Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Veerasingam took down their names, addresses and phone numbers and promised to provide "welfare help for them and their children so that they can go to school".

Despite that, the victims have yet to receive any money from the ministry to this day, according to the letters.

Letter from dept

However, a check with two of the widows, Saraswathy and Jeyanthi, revealed that the Social Welfare Department had contacted them recently regarding welfare aid.

Jeyanthi, who is due in December, received a letter from the department last Thursday, Nov 14, which she brought to the Social Welfare Department district branch in Kluang, Johor yesterday. An officer there informed her that her request would be processed more quickly.

An officer from the same department also interviewed her at her home last Monday to ascertain her financial status and the condition of her home.

Saraswathy received a letter from the Social Welfare Department two days ago that promised "immediate aid".

The widows also appealed to the minister for a medium-priced house for shelter, a permanent job at a government agency, counselling, and an allowance of RM200 for each of their children.

Alleged gangsters

Vasanti, who is currently five months pregnant and unemployed, found out that her husband had been shot dead by the police on Aug 24. Her husband, Anthony Ponnusamy, was killed with Lechumanan Moneandy in Pajam, near Nilai after a car chase.

Lechumanan was Saraswathy's husband. The police alleged that he and Anthony were gang members who were waiting to hijack a lorry laden with RM3 million worth of video compact discs and microchips before they were shot.

Jeyanthi's husband, Mohanan Pillai, was shot dead by police in Petaling Jaya on Sept 6. According to a Malay Mail report at that time, he was allegedly building a "drug empire" after his release four months earlier from a two-year detention under the Emergency Ordinance. Police said that they killed him after he fired a shot at them.