Socio-economic project alleviates poverty in Sabah
KENINGAU: If Alyosius Marupin has the chance to meet Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the first thing he would do is thank the prime minister for helping to transform the lives of people like him and their families.
The 37-year-old father of four, from Kampung Bunga Raya, here, is among the thousands of people in Sabah who have benefited from agricultural projects carried out under the Prosperous Mini Estate (Mini Estet Sejahtera or Mesej) programme.
The programme, implemented by the state Rural Development Ministry in collaboration with other government agencies, is aimed at alleviating hardcore poverty as it enables the participants to earn a decent income by working in various agricultural schemes.
Following his participation in the Mesej project in Bunang, here, Alyosius’ monthly income has increased substantially to between RM2,000 and RM3,000.
Prior to that, he was only able to take home a measly RM300 a month, which barely meet the needs of his growing family. They used to live in a dilapidated house in their village without any amenities like water and power supply.
Alyosius’ socio-economic upliftment was made possible due to the state government’s seriousness in lifting the poor out of hardcore poverty through rural transformation projects.
“As part of the scheme, each of us (Mesej participants) were given a house to live in. The state government also provided transport to take our children to school,” Alyosius told Bernama.
“Life is so much better for us now and it’s all due to the services rendered by our (Barisan Nasional) government which has our welfare at heart.”
Currently, 52 projects have been implemented statewide under the Mesej programme. Out of this number, 34 comprise agricultural projects and six, aquaculture ventures. There are also nine micro projects and three integrated projects under the Mesej programme. Besides Bunang, other areas where the Mesej projects have been implemented include Mangkalias and Kelanyaan in Tenom district, and Ulu Patian and Ungga in Kemabong district.
Once all the Mesej projects are fully operational and have started yielding results, they are set to benefit some more than 2,500 heads of hardcore poor households.
Jinikah Ikang, 55, a single mother of 11, is so overjoyed at being one of the participants of the Mesej project in Bunang that she likens the situation she is in now to that of an “ant that has fallen into a sea of sugar”.
“(Here we have) House, water, surau, transport and money. We are living comfortably and all we have to do is to work according to the schedule that has been arranged for us,” she said.
Jinikah said the Mesej programme has proven effective in helping people like her to escape from the clutches of poverty.
Due to her family’s dire financial situation previously, she could not afford to send nine of her children to school.
“Thanks to the Mesej programme, at least two of my children are now able to go to school,” she said, adding that the willingness to work hard was a prerequisite if one wanted to succeed.
“There have been some participants who were lazy and didn’t want to change their ways. Finally, they ended up returning to their village and their old way of life.
“Here, we’ve to work hard and follow all the instructions given to us by those managing the project.”
Another single mother, Hasimin Salih, 52, said when she was a child her family used to live in abject poverty as her parents were rubber tappers.
The mother-of-four said after her husband passed away, she decided to move in with her parents as she could not provide for her family.
Eventually, Hasimin was presented with the opportunity to participate in the Bunang Mesej project and that was when things started looking up for her.
“My financial situation started improving and now I’m able to earn about RM900 a month. For a single mother like me, this amount is big enough,” she said.