THOSE people who still see poverty as a form of myth are those fit to be called lazy. Their laziness to think deeply causes them to create a made-up link between poverty and indolence, and even make those two synonymous. Since Covid-19 appeared and ravaged our society, the number of people falling into poverty has risen, owing to the fact that their savings are all used up. 

A particular study by Unicef Malaysia, the four series reports Families on The Edge while doing some observations within the marginalised household, has recorded that the poverty rate has increased from 42% in December 2020 to 45% in May 2021. A study also reported that around 70% of them has used up all of their savings due to the economic crisis since the movement-control order (MCO) started. This study by Unicef Malaysia on 500 households at People’s Housing Programme (PPR) also said that, since the pandemic, 57% have experienced a monetary crisis. The United Nations stated that the detrimental effects of MCO, especially to low-income households, are towards their earnings, education, and mental health. 

However, there are those among us with such erroneous belief towards the poor – that the poor are lazy, idle, financially irresponsible, or even being choosy with regard to jobs. The reality is that the poor work longer hours than the rest of the society but owing to the fact that they are paid less, they remain in the state of poverty. Rationally speaking, no one who works full-time should remain that way. 

A question, then, should be raised: why do those hardworking farmers, for example, remain impoverished? As things go, they are poverty-stricken due to the structural order of our economic system that is devilishly discriminating. No matter how diligently the farmers are at their occupation, they are being bounded to poverty structurally. 

Structural poverty is a result of several factors: class domination, discrimination, exploitation, conflict, and natural disaster. Poverty and backwardness are due to the macro-environment that is dominant and exploitative. It needs to be understood that this problem is rather complex and systemic. Renowned economist from Developing Malaysia Analytics Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid said the first step to solving this issue of poverty is not to avoid generalisation, besides staying in denial about the reality of inequality, mainly on the unjust economic distribution. 

Following the white flag campaign, it is undeniable that some parts of society hold the view that the poor are accustomed to living in their state of poverty, and only leeches on the help of others without any hard work on their own. Ironically, the poor are insinuated with remarks such as “fight against indolence before fighting against indigence”. To link destitution with indolence is nonsensical because, in actuality, there are those who are being laid off by employers, burnt up their savings and lack basic necessities in such desperate times. This does not dismiss the fact that, among the needy, there are some who are accustomed to being spoon-fed by others, but this generalisation is, more often than not, unjust and will cloud the real problem. 

In eradicating poverty, there are some who probably think that uplifting the people’s economic standards should not be the main agenda. They bring their argument to a point that some of them unnecessarily romanticise history by encouraging the people to look back to the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s administration, in which he focused on belief, religion, and upbringing rather than economic interests. 

Prof Dr Jasser Auda once said Islam itself does not dictate to obliterate poverty, nor does it push for development. However, what we need to understand is that, in lieu of the Islamic perspective, eradicating poverty is not something to be abandoned, nor does Islam reject to solve economic issues. What Islam stresses is social justice as in sufficiency, equality, and fundamental peace within society. 

The systemic problem such as poverty has been a topic of intense discussion among academics, politicians, civil societies, and policymakers from both sides of the divide. The most important thing to do, then, is to draft comprehensive and beneficial policies to fight off serious structural poverty and prolonged income inequality to achieve more inclusive development. 

Helping the poor is not limited to giving alms or food baskets house by house. It should go in tandem with efforts to plan policies while cooperating with various agencies and take extensive measures to help those who are hit by poverty. 

In these desperate times with the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation is very demanding for us to reevaluate the problem of poverty in Malaysia. Among us are those who have lost our jobs. Thus, the poverty rate in Malaysia, which is extrapolated through data from Household Income Source, need to be reviewed and reassessed to understand the real current state of poverty. 

Lack of data and information in identifying the poor or low-incomed is a problem we noted as a data gap. This data gap will eventually reduce the number of accurate information that could be extracted and collected for the purpose of analysing and obtaining an error-free projection. 

A compendium of analysis made around 2020 titled “Miskin Bandar & Pandemik Covid-19” (Urban Poverty & Covid-19 Pandemic), published by Institut Latihan Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur expressed that among the challenges within the data gap is data readiness, data collection, data key-in task and coordination among all parties involved. 

With regard to the coordination among agencies, this also raises one question: how are we going to make sure that all ministries, agencies, or even certain think tanks use the same data for their studies? There is a desperate need for the data used by every party to correlate and correspond to each other.

Academics and policymakers’ involvement is a necessity in order to reduce the wide economic gap and thus ensuring income equality and stability among all social classes.

Being poor is never a need. Being rich is never a must. But between the former and the latter, which proves to be profitable to the society? – August 20, 2021.

* Sofiya Tamizi reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.