PKR MP: Stop being in denial, accept UN’s poverty findings
PUCHONG: The government should accept the findings by United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on poverty in Malaysia positively.
In a statement today, PKR supreme council member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that ignoring expert advice and hiding behind the walls of secrecy and unaccountability would mean that nothing has changed in ‘New Malaysia’.
“And it would be Malaysians that will continue to suffer due to the stubbornness of its leaders.
“As we claim to be a reformist government, Pakatan Harapan should be willing to embrace criticisms or feedback made in good faith, especially when it is about the welfare of Malaysians,” he said.
Recently, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston said that Malaysia’s stance that less than 25,000 households in the country live in poverty (or 0.4%) is unrealistic, and the government’s official methodologies undercount poverty.
Alston also said that Malaysia’s official poverty line of RM980 was unrealistic, and that our actual poverty rate could be between 16% and 20%.
However, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali shot down Alston’s findings and was adamant that Malaysia would stand by its official poverty figure of 0.4%.
Azmin claimed that the government had used internationally-accepted standards based on the second edition (2011) of the Canberra Group Handbook on household income statistics, published by the UN.
Nik Nazmi, however, dismissed Azmin’s argument and said that in this day and age, it is impossible to raise a family on just RM980 a month, regardless whether they live in a rural or urban area, or even with government assistance like Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH).
The PKR MP also said that Alston had made several recommendations that the government should consider; including revising the poverty line, adopting a comprehensive data transparency policy, expanding overall social protection spending, improving the quality of education, as well as better protection and assistance for indigenous peoples, the stateless, migrants and refugees.
“The government must also come up with more effective measures to fight poverty and help the disadvantaged.
“This is including studying the possibility of implementing Universal Basic Income, wage subsidies, as well wage increases for the poorest workers through tax cuts for employees,” said Nik Nazmi.
He added that the government cannot be claiming to be championing the people’s interest if the leaders do not treat such issues with seriousness.
“Alston’s claims should not be ignored, swept under the carpet or paid lip service to, but urgently acted upon,” said Nik Nazmi.
