THE People’s Housing Project (PPR) is a sad relection of the “other Malaysia” where the victims are children, said Klang MP Charles Santiago.

Santiago said the living conditions in the PPR were debilitating to the young minds of the nation, while the PPRs were the result of years of poverty, inequality, and low wages.

“Unable to make ends meet, they end up living in these low-cost flats where many still cannot pay their rent or maintenance fee,” he said 

Santiago said a recent Unicef survey said that 15% of children aged below 5 in PPRs were underweight,  and 22% of children in PPRs were stunted, almost double the KL average.   

“The conditions in these low-cost, highrise PPRs are appalling – cramped spaces, urine-covered stairways, poor lighting, lack of garbage disposal areas, heavy littering and lack of public safety mechanisms.

“But it remains a lifeline to many who earn less than RM3,000 ringgit (a month) in Malaysia,” he said.

He said Barisan Nasional had failed to maintain the housing projects for the poor even though they were its brainchild.

“It has failed to look into habitability, security and maintenance of these places. 

“And despite knowing that the urban poor had to live in these places, the government also failed to look into policies to ensure sufficient wages and equal access to food, education and adequate recreational space for families and their children.

He criticised Prime Minister Najib Razak for bringing up “meaningless numbers” that were purportedly indicative of a thriving economy but which did not tell the stories of those left behind in the socio-economic and political progress of the country.

“While we may have reduced absolute poverty in the country, relative poverty is growing as shown by the families living in PPR flats.

“We need higher salaries, better food and better education for these kids to grow in a conducive environment.”

He said Najib should rethink the development of the country to close the gap between the rich and the poor as well as to secure social safety nets.

“And I call upon the government to extend the study to other urban areas in the country as well,” he said. – February 28, 2018.