I WISH to commend Maria Chin Abdullah for her pertinent article, Uplift the Poor Now in today’s edition of theSun newspaper.

Her article raises urban poverty issues that are relevant for the media and all Malaysians to review and to provide solutions with greater priority.

For too long, our economic planning has focused on  measures to reduce rural poverty. This is still important. But we can take pride and satisfaction in that national  poverty has been considerably reduced from about 50% of our population at Merdeka in 1957 to a low figure of about 1% as of now.

In the past, poverty was situated mainly in rural areas. But with steady migration from rural to urban areas, urban poverty has become more significant in terms of numbers, and greater challenges are being faced by the urban poor.

For instance, the urban poor have to buy all their food and cannot subsist on farming and fishing, as in rural areas. Transport, housing and health costs are more  expensive for the urban poor. Indeed, the quality of life for the urban poor could well be lower than that of the rural poor. 

This is worth studying. The Economic Affairs Ministry and Treasury could undertake a survey to find out what  new policies and measures are needed to better combat urban poverty as well as do more for the rural poor.

Maria Chin has indeed drawn public attention once again to the great concern we all have for the widening gap between the rich and the poor in our country. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has recently emphasised the need to do more to narrow the wealth gap, but new socio-economic policies need to prioritise the problems of the poor before those in the B40 income group become restless. This could cause more insecurity and much social instability.

Our economic and budget planning, and its implementation, should also be more balanced. We should be more concerned about eradicating poverty and fulfilling the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals rather than harbour preoccupations with higher economic growth rates. 

We have to ask ourselves: who is benefitting from more economic growth? Are they big businesses or small-medium businesses and the poor in the rural and urban populations?

Furthermore, in dealing with ensuring the welfare of the poor – both rural and the new urban poor – we have to have a multiracial outlook. Otherwise, we could cause national disunity rather than achieve our aspirations of promoting greater unity at a faster pace. 

Even our prime minister and most Malaysians have expressed anxiety over weak national unity. Much of the cause is poverty. Reducing income gaps should, therefore, be given greater priority under the stewardship of the new government.

Social safety net

Maria Chin proposed a deeper and wider social security net to look after the poor more generously. The minimum wage of RM1,100 per month is claimed to be “hardly adequate for the poor”. This could well be a correct observation. It was suggested that there should be “liveable incomes” or a “Living Wage” that should be higher than the current minimum wage that was only recently revised upward. 

But can we afford to raise the minimum wage?

We are facing the challenges of a persistent budget deficit and large debt burden.

So, while some improvements can be made to the social safety net, there are serious constraints for the poor at this time.

Solving poverty 

The way forward is to raise priority spending and to do more for the urban poor. This can be done but at the expense of slowing down the implementation of some major development projects and programmes. Large government projects could be delayed or phased out.

Also, those in the B40 group need to be better educated to raise their earning capacity. That is why more technical and vocational training should be introduced in schools to ensure a higher proportion of school graduates are employable. These graduates should also be “self-employable”. 

They don’t have to depend on the government to give them jobs. The government is not in a position to add more staff to its already large public service of 1.6 million employees.

The same arguments could also be made for raising the employability and incomes of our college and university graduates. Many of them cannot find jobs or suitable work because of unsuitable training. The lack of English proficiency also handicaps them, through no fault of their own. They have become frustrated because of faulty policies and poor implementation. All these weaknesses – derived from the past – need to be rectified soon. 

Conclusion  

We need a new red book or blueprint to fight urban poverty.

Maria Chin and many civil society groups have highlighted the needs of the urban poor. They have also underlined the need to do more to alleviate the suffering of urban, as well as rural, poor.  

The priority now, however, is the urban poor. The rural poor have food and shelter, and basic health and other government facilities provided over many years. The urban poor often face more problems now.

The government has to plan and implement new policies to do more to help the urban poor. 

It would be useful to introduce a new red book or blueprint to resolve urban poverty, of which could incite more crime and social unrest in the future. – January 17, 2019.

* Ramon Navaratnam is Asli Centre of Public Policy Studies chairman.