AN Amanah lawmaker has asked the Terengganu government to explain why 26% of children aged below five-years in the state faced stunted growth, despite the state allocating almost RM2 billion for its 2018 budget.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah (Amanah-Kuala Terenganu) said based on data provided in a Unicef report released last week, Terengganu was the second highest after Kelantan (34%).

“Terengganu has allocated almost RM2 billion for its annual budget for a population that is around one million people, compared to Selangor’s RM1.6 billion budget for its five million people.

“Where has the wealth of Terengganu gone that its people are unable to provide nutritional meals (to their children)?” he said during a press conference at Parliament today.

He said this showed the state’s financial affairs were not effectively handled.

Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, released on February 26, found that 26% of children below 5-years-old in Terengganu and Pahang (26%) were facing stunted growth, followed by Putrajaya, Perak, Sabah & Labuan (24%).

Sarawak is 23%, followed by Perlis 21%, Penang 20%, N. Sembilan 19%, Kedah 18%, Malacca 14%, Johor 12% and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur 11%.

The report, which compared countries with similar GDP per capita as Malaysia, said in terms of stunting, Malaysian children perform worse than Ghana, despite Malaysia’s GDP per capita being six times higher, at 21%.

“A higher income does not mean better health. Even in the richest district in Malaysia, Putrajaya, almost one in four is stunted, higher than the national average.

“Children in the poorest state, like Kelantan also perform much worse than children in low income countries like Zimbabwe and Swaziland,” it said.

The report also stated that the prevalence of stunting have also increased in a decade, from 17% in 2006 to 20.7% in 2016. – March 8, 2018.