THE government’s response to a United Nations official’s findings on Malaysia indicates a reversal on its commitment to eradicate poverty, said Philip Alston.

Alston, a former UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights who conducted his research visit last year, said this in a report on his findings released to the public today.

He said the official poverty rate of 0.4% and deemed the lowest in the world is “based on a statistical sleight of hand”.

He attached the government’s response with his report tabled during the 44th session of the Human Rights Council from June 25 to July 3.

Putrajaya, now controlled by Perikatan Nasional, said the poverty rate is derived from internationally accepted standards.

“Malaysia stands by its absolute poverty rate, which was recorded at 0.4% of total households, or 24,700 households, in 2016,” said the government in response to Alston’s report.

“This poverty rate is derived from internationally accepted standards based on the Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second Edition (2011), which is published by the UN.

“As such, the assertion made by Professor Alston that there is ‘a statistical sleight of hand that has nefarious consequences’ is wholly unacceptable and irresponsible.”

Alston said the government’s reaction casts doubt on its commitment to tackle the issue.

“The government’s reversal is deeply concerning because the current line is inadequate and almost universally considered to be misleadingly low.”

Putrajaya’s insistence that the poverty line is based on internationally accepted standards “is a smokescreen and ignores the blatant mismatch between reality and statistics”.

“Pretending that almost no one in the entire country lives in poverty doesn’t change the reality that millions are poor. Saving face is one thing, but distorting the facts is quite another.

“Malaysia has made impressive progress against poverty in the past 40 years, but its continued use of an outdated and unrealistic poverty line obscures the troubling reality that millions scrape by on very low incomes, a situation made worse by Covid-19.”

Unless the government takes a different approach, the job of eradicating poverty will remain painfully incomplete, he added.

The poverty line is set at RM980 per household per month, or RM8 per person per day.

Malaysia’s response

Putrajaya said it appreciates the former special rapporteur’s efforts to raise awareness on poverty in the country, but finds certain comments “baseless and uncalled for”.

“For instance, the assertion that a ‘sizeable 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.”

It said efforts to revise the poverty line index (PLI) were under way when Alston and his team visited last August, and that they were informed of the matter during a meeting with government agencies.

The measurement of poverty is to be revised in tandem with the cost of living, as stated in the midterm review of the 11th Malaysia Plan, which was tabled in Parliament in October 2018.

The Economic Affairs Ministry has been working on the revision since March last year in collaboration with other ministries and agencies, said Putrajaya.

It said then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told Parliament last October that the government was working on revising PLI and implementing the multidimensional poverty index.

“Therefore, all policies, strategies and initiatives had been in place even before the special rapporteur’s visit. While it sparked interest in poverty issues, however, the claim that the government acted on poverty reviews only following the visit is incorrect.”

Alston’s 11-day trip was to produce a report for the UN on the extent to which Malaysia’s policies and programmes relating to extreme poverty are consistent with its human rights obligations. The report was also meant to offer constructive recommendations to the government and other stakeholders.

He went to Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Sarawak, Sabah and Kelantan, and met state and federal officials, international agencies, civil society groups, academics, and urban and rural folk living in poverty.

He also visited a soup kitchen, women’s shelter, children’s crisis centre, low-cost flats, disability centre, indigenous communities, and informal settlements and schools.

Putrajaya said 11 days were not enough to fulfil the UN team’s request to meet all stakeholders, including the prime minister, cabinet members and other government officials.

“In addition, the areas covered were Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak, which are far from one another.”

It added that Alston and his team provided a soft copy of the draft media statement and end-of-mission report on the morning of August 23, just hours before a debriefing meeting.

“This did not allow Malaysian officials enough time to review the documents. The feedback given to Alston’s team was also not incorporated in the advanced, unedited version of the report.” – July 6, 2020.