The Defunding of Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial (PBKS)

After more than 7 years of serving the urban poor and socially marginalised in the heart of KL, Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial (PBKS) faces closure due to discontinuation public funding. Once touted by WHO and the UN Development Program as an example of smart partnership between government and civil society organisations, the drop-in centre has played a critical role in ensuring that the Chow Kit community has access to HIV and AIDS education, prevention, care and support, and sexuality awareness and empowerment programmes for vulnerable sexual communities in Kuala Lumpur. We speak to the centre’s programme manager Nisha Ayub and Vice-Chair Sulastri Ariffin about their plans going forward.