DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang has agreed with research reports that Malaysia has undercounted its poverty rate, saying measurements need to be updated so more targeted policies can be implemented.

“Even as we celebrate the many things that we enjoy, we must not forget the marginalised communities around us.

“Poverty and marginalised groups did not disappear overnight after Pakatan Harapan became the government in May 2018,” he said in a speech in Batu Pahat, Johor last night.

Lim, who is Iskandar Puteri MP, said these poor groups were a stark reminder of how much more work Putrajaya needed to put in to lift their lives and the lives of their children.

He said the findings by UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Professor Philip Alston on the underreported state of poverty in the country is not surprising.

He also reiterated noted poverty scholar Professor Martin Ravallion’s call for more transparent publication and sharing of micro level data of household surveys.

Ravallion, who held the Royal Ungku Aziz chair of Poverty Studies at Universiti Malaya, made that observation earlier this year.

“I am glad to note that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said the government will study carefully the report published by the UN special rapporteur and that the government will review the poverty measurement if necessary,” said Lim.

“These measurements have to be updated so we can use them to better target our policies to help the marginalised groups, especially the B40 communities.”

Lim also supported calls by civil society groups for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to study the UN report and make recommendations.

He has proposed chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research Kamil Salih to chair the RCI, with members such as UKM professor Denison Jayasooria, Yusof Ishak Institute researcher Lee Hwok Aun, Suhakam commissioner Madeline Burma, and World Bank and Unicef representatives.

Lim encouraged Malaysians to propose candidates deemed suitable for the panel.

Citing various research reports in the past, including those from Khazanah Research Institute, he said poverty should be counted in relative terms and not absolute terms.

He also quoted the Prime Minister’s economic advisor Muhammed Abdul Khalid, who recently said that poverty had reached crisis levels and measurements needed update that would take relative poverty into account.

“Anecdotally, many MPs do not have the impression that Malaysia’s poverty rate has dropped to a mere 0.4%. This works out to be approximately 27,000 households below the poverty line income (PLI) out of a population of 6.7 million households.

“This translates into an average of 121 households below the PLI in each of the 222 parliamentary constituencies.

“If we judge by the number of people who come to our service centres seeking financial assistance, this low poverty rate does not reflect the reality on the ground.”

Lim said several representatives such as Klang MP Charles Santiago, Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and himself had raised concerns over the state of poverty in the country.

Nurul Izzah had asked the former government in 2014 to use the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to better reflect the incidence of poverty on the ground.

This was later introduced in the 11th Malaysia Plan.

However, Lim gave examples or targeted policies that the government has introduced so far – MySalam automatic social protection scheme, Peka B40 healthcare scheme and I-Suri EPF contributions for B40 housewives.

“Prime minister’s call for the government to focus on ‘shared prosperity’ is consistent with the focus to uplift the livelihoods of the B40 groups.” – September 7, 2019.