A UNITED Nations report on poverty is further justification why Malaysian workers need a living wage, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

The MTUC said the current minimum wage of RM1,100 a month could have been a major contributor to the UN findings.

In an April study, Bank Negara Malaysia advocated a living wage for Malaysian workers.

In addition to meeting basic needs, the living wage also provides for a meaningful participation in society, the opportunity for personal and family development, and freedom from severe financial stress.

“The minimum wage of RM1,100 cannot be considered a living wage given the cost of living,” said MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon.

“To address the situation, the minimum wage has to be raised substantially. The government should stop giving excuses that it will cause inflation by doing so.

“This argument, which is often cited by employers, is flawed and baseless,” Solomon said in a statement this evening.

Recently, UN special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights Prof Philip Alston said that Malaysia’s poverty rate of 0.4% did not reflect the true picture of deprivation and hardship felt by a substantial number of citizens.

Alston said Malaysia’s figure of RM980 per household per month or RM8 per day, was artificially low because it relied on a poverty income threshold that was irrelevant for Malaysia as an upper-middle income economy.

According to scholars, a more realistic poverty line income used by countries of a similar development level would put Malaysia’s poverty rate at between 16% and 20%.

“It is embarrassing that erroneous rates are used to mislead the world and Malaysians,” Solomon said in reference to the UN findings.

“This has caused gross injustice and suffering to workers as they are denied the equitable share of the nation’s wealth,” he said.

Solomon also took aim at Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, who refuted the UN report, saying that the government should not “sweep the truth under the carpet”.

Azmin said the national poverty line of RM980 per household per month is derived from internationally accepted standards based on the Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second Edition (2011).

Azmin said Malaysia stands by its current method of calculating its poverty level, despite claims from the UN that it is under-reporting such incidences.

Calling the UN’s remarks on the country’s absolute poverty rate “disappointing”, Azmin said the threshold is taken from a UN publication.

The minister said the assertion that a “sizable part of Malaysia’s population struggles to get by with tenuous access to food, shelter, education and healthcare” is both misconceived and erroneous, clearly lacking empirical evidence and rigorous scientific procedures.

However, Solomon, said the past seven years saw a steep rise in the cost of living, while wages remained stagnant for the most part.

He pointed out that Azmin had also admitted that 12% of the operating national budget was for subsidies and social support.

“This shows that wages were not sufficient to meet the rise in prices in every aspect of the peoples’ lives.

“It is an inadvertent admission that wages for the lower income group are indeed low in Malaysia.

“Azmin’s denial is a reflection that he is disconnected with the real situation on the ground.

“He cannot be ignorant that a substantial proportion of Malaysians are living on borrowed income for their basic needs.

“Being in denial will only see Malaysia continuously postponing its hope of becoming a developed nation at the targeted year,” Solomon added. – August 25, 2019.