THE Perikatan Nasional (PN) government needs to take an urgent approach to improving the livelihood of the people and move beyond its agenda of political survival, said DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok.

The Seputeh MP’s comment came after a joint study by United Nations agencies UNICEF and UNFP that noted unemployment among low-income families in Kuala Lumpur have doubled during the conditional movement-control order (CMCO) imposed at the end of last year.

“For a start, the PN government should revoke the state of emergency. Undoubtedly, the proclamation of emergency rule will deter investors,” said Kok.

“It is high time for the government to take a proactive stance immediately to tackle growing unemployment and urban poverty. The government must engage all stakeholders, including the KL MPs and the PH state governments,” she added.

UNICEF and UNFP noted that unemployment among heads of households had doubled from 7% in September to 15% in December 2020.

Former prime minister Najib Razak had also commented on the recent findings, saying that if there is truth to the United Nations report on rising unemployment among low-income families then it is an indication that the government has failed.

Najib said a prolonged conditional movement-control order (CMCO) to curb the spread of the virus would have a more adverse impact than a short, but stringent, movement-control order (MCO).

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Meanwhile, Kok urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resume parliamentary and state assembly sittings to allow elected representatives to participate in debates on reviving the economy.

She then said the Federal Territories minister has not made much of an effort beyond allowing hawkers to set up their stalls around the city.

“As an elected representative in Kuala Lumpur, I am most concerned on the Unicef report about the increase in unemployment amongst the low-income urban households, which doubled in the Klang Valley from September to December last year.”

“As an MP in KL, thus far, no much action has been taken… only one, whereby the FT minister announced that DBKL will allow hawkers to put up stalls at any place they wished.”

“Muhyiddin had also announced that the government will donate 5,700 packets of rice for the poor on Federal Territory Day, on top of the various one-off handouts to the poor but this will not resolve the increase in urban poverty in Kuala Lumpur and in the Klang Valley,” she said.

According to the UN report, overall unemployment in the households surveyed remained high, with one in three adults being out of work.

Income levels among households headed by females and by persons with disabilities (PWD) fell by 24% and 36% respectively from the end of 2019. – February 8, 2021.