THE halfway house for Malay female former drug offenders that Taman Bacaan set up may have closed, due to its very success, but its 'pay it forward' spirit lives on.

Taman Bacaan's president and chief executive officer Abdul Halim Kader, and volunteers who helped with the halfway house, intend to keep helping others.

Mr Abdul Halim, 58, was inspired to set up the volunteer welfare body in 1995 after being involved as a community leader in a drug task force in Kampong Kembangan in the 1970s. He was a civil servant then.

'In about 1989, we had mobilised mosques, temples and churches in the community. Five years later, Kampong Kembangan was drug free,' he recalled.

Taman Bacaan Halfway House - the only volunteer outfit that catered to female Malay former drug offenders - closed on May 1.

Set up 15 years ago, it has rehabilitated about 500 inmates. Last month, the only two inmates left had finished their nine-month rehabilitation programme.

Drug abuse arrests have been declining - from 6,165 in 1994 to 1,925 last year. But the drug abuse figures rose for Malays. In 2005, Malays made up 16.7 per cent of total abusers caught; in 2007, itmade up almost half.

In 1998, female drug offenders numbered 239. Last year, the figure fell to 65. No figures are available for female Malay offenders.

Female Muslim drug offenders eligible for community-based programmes like the residential scheme are allowed to stay at their own homes for six to 12 months.

Those under this scheme are tagged with an electronic monitoring device.

Read the full story in tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Time.