KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The Housing and Local Government Ministry will look into the proposal to set up a financial aid fund to help families of Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JPBM) personnel who died while on duty.

Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, said the proposal could be considered as an effort to recognise and appreciate the contributions of the personnel who serve the agency.

"It is an idea that we can look into and find the appropriate mechanism to assist families of dead firefighters while on duty and so on,” she said after handing over a contribution to the widow of the late firefighter Baharudin Sapuan, Zetay Akhtar Muhamad at the Dewan Kompleks Kuaters JPBM Cheras, today.

The deceased was a member of the Rapid Intervention Motorcycle (RIM) unit of the Jalan Hang Tuah  Fire and Rescue Station, Kuala Lumpur who died after the high-powered motorcycle he was riding skidded and crashed during a training session with the team on the North-South Expressway, near Alor Gajah, Melaka on June 7.

Also present at the event were JBPM director-general Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid and Kuala Lumpur JBPM director Nordin Pauzi.

In another development, Zuraida said schools could seek the assistance of JPBM to implement sanitation activities following the approval for the opening of schools for exam bound students on Wednesday,

"The Ministry and JPBM should help schools that will open, and the school management can apply for assistance from firefighters. Some schools have now requested the help of firefighters to carry out sanitising,” she said.

The reopening of certain classes in 2,440 schools nationwide will start from June 24, involving students sitting for public examinations, namely Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Sijil Vokasional Malaysia (SVM), Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan (STPM) and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) as well as equivalent international examinations. — Bernama