MALAYSIA: This old couple is living their golden years in a toilet

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Xinhua), April 4, 2008: In what should be their golden years, poverty has forced a Malaysian elderly couple to turn an abandoned toilet into their home, local press reported on Friday. Ismail Mat, 70, and his 68-year-old wife Rahimah Jolan have been living in the dilapidated toilet at the Gemas railway station in Gemas, central state of Negeri Sembilan since the end of last month, when Ismail was employed to maintain the new toilets near their "home". Ismail said he has used planks and plastic sheeting to prevent leaks and to cover the toilet bowls. "We earn about 10 ringgit (3.13 U.S. dollars) a day from the 20sen ringgit (6 U.S. cents) people pay to use the toilet and from the sale of tissue paper. With that we buy some packet rice to eat twice a day," the New Straits Times quoted Ismail as saying. "Before I got this job, I was the caretaker of the toilets at the stalls managed by the Tampin (Negeri Sembilan state) district council. I lived under a staircase there for three years," Ismail said. He said he was thankful to a officer in Gemas who gave him the job of looking after the toilets at the station, and did not stop him when he moved into the abandoned toilets nearby. Ismail, who comes from Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, said he has two children and 11 grandchildren from his first marriage. State executive councilor for Women and Family Affairs Zainab Nasir has visited them at their "home" recently and promised to get them a house under the Program Kesejahteraan Rakyat (Community Welfare Scheme). "I will also get them financial aid to meet their daily needs. I will try and persuade the couple to move into the Seremban Welfare Home until their new home is ready," he said. Editor: Sun Yunlong Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency.