PUTRAJAYA should be receptive to calls by experts to redefine national poverty levels and income brackets to tackle poverty effectively, said Anwar Ibrahim, chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance.

Anwar also said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad agreed that new yardsticks to determine an accurate national poverty rate should be introduced.

“We have a consensus is asking the government to put the poverty level at a higher rate because Dr Mahathir said he is willing to consider views on how to measure the poverty level,” Anwar said at a seminar on national poverty at Parliament today.

Yesterday, government think-tank Khazanah Research Institute said Putrajaya should introduce new income categories to effectively reduce income inequality and tackle poverty.

KRI said there should be new categories – such as B20 for the bottom 20% poor – instead of the present categories of B40, middle 40 (M40) and top 20 (T20), which are used as a guide to dispense welfare aid.

Anwar said today those with wealth gained from the profits of large corporations are high-income earners in the T20 group.

Lumping all low-income earners in the B40 category is not effective and in line with the country’s economic development, as some working in certain sectors are still left behind, he said.

“The income of fishermen and farmers has not increased even though the economy has improved.

“With the increasing cost of living, the B40 find that their income is less than their expenses. Therefore, their debts increase,” said Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP.

He said if their poverty continued, this group would suffer a poorer quality of life, besides lacking access to healthcare and education.

Putrajaya spent large amounts on poverty eradication programmes each year yet these yielded little results, he said.

The caucus meeting also urged the government to pay attention to a United Nations report prepared by special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Professor Philip Alston, which highlighted the under-reporting of the country’s poverty rate.

“Other numbers and statistics from Bank Negara Malaysia and Khazanah Research Institute also back the fact that the poverty rate does not reflect the reality and cost of living,” he said.

Rajah Rasiah from the Asia Europe Institute of Universiti Malaya (UM) and Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram Jomo also presented their papers at today’s seminar.

A 15% poverty rate as opposed to the “official” 0.4% figure is a more realistic number, they said. – September 24, 2019.