0.4% poverty rate far from truth

It should be around 20%, says economist

PETALING JAYA: The poverty rate in the country does not reflect the actual situation because it is not based on current standard of living, economist Prof Barjoyai Bardai said yesterday.

He said the poverty rate of 0.4% is not actual and it should be in the region of 20% to show the changes that have occurred.

“The calculation of (income less than) RM980 for a person to fall into the poverty trap was made in 2005 but the basic amount required to survive is about RM2,500 today,” he said.

Barjoyai said there is also a difference between urban and rural poverty, and more emphasis should be placed on urban poverty as 70% of the population live in urban areas.

He said in rural areas, there is a better support structure as neighbours will come together to help people in hardship by ensuring they have a roof over their heads.

Society for the Promotion of Human Rights said the final report by Prof Philip Alston, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, on the state of poverty in Malaysia raises some very serious concerns which cannot be denied or ignored.

It said the report that released on Monday was the first major independent review of the state of poverty in Malaysia from a human rights framework.

The report raised major concerns on situation on poverty and whether the current methods of measurement and intervention are able to effectively address the long-neglected populations that face higher poverty rates, it added.

“The report raises questions on how poverty is measured where the rate of poverty is just 0.4% which is the lowest in the world. It also indicates this figure as misleadingly low and fails to capture the reality of poverty on the ground.

“The report calls for a revision of the poverty line, a better understanding of poverty and the fostering of a new approach towards long-neglected populations that face high rates of poverty,” it said.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed said the national poverty line income (PLI) has been under review since 2018 under the previous government.

He said a decision to review the PLI has already been made as the “2005 methodology” used to fix RM980 as the PLI for a household was formulated in 2005.

Speaking at the launch of National Census Day, he said 15 years have passed, definitely it is outdated.

Mustapha pointed out that the poverty rate should be higher than 0.4% and the PLI of RM980 is no longer applicable now that the per capita income has increased to RM45,000, from just RM20,000 about 15 years ago.

He said during the mid-term presentation of 11MP in Parliament in October 2018, the Statistics Department had already started work to revise these figures and the findings had been presented to the Cabinet.