State Government urged to review poverty alleviation programmes
KOTA KINABALU: A Parti Warisan leader has urged the State Government to review its existing poverty alleviation programmes after seven districts in Sabah were announced as the poorest in Malaysia recently.
Kota Belud Member of Parliament Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis said that the State Government must increase its effort to stimulate the state’s economy and to use as benchmark for the food and nonfood Poverty Line Income (PLI) that increases every year.
“The party’s JPRN unit noted that several State’s poverty alleviation programmes such as MESEJ may have been successful in the early 2000’s but its existing template requires a review to cater for Sabah’s ever increasing household expenditures.
“Hence, a major overhaul of these programmes is needed to ensure participants will be motivated to achieve the targets set by the government and such programmes will benefit not only the limited participants but local populace as well.
“The unit also noted that several districts in the West Coast registered increase of at least two points in their absolute poverty incidence such as Kota Kinabalu (7.5 pct / 2019 to 10.3 pct / 2022), Putatan (10.9 pct / 2019 to 12.9 pct / 2022) and Papar (12.7 pct / 2019 to 16.2 pct / 2022) while substantial increase is shown at Tuaran (16.7 pct / 2019 to 25.8 pct / 2022) and Sipitang (10.5 pct / 2019 to 22.1 pct / 2022).
“We believe that these increments necessitate immediate action by the State Government primarily through the stimulation of the economy by increasing more ‘diversified mid and high value industries’ that will provide long-term employment with higher wages that exceed the food and nonfood PLI.
“If the State Government continues to prioritize mineral extraction investments where huge number of Sabahans will only be needed during the construction stage (24 months) or exportation of raw commodities such as crude oil and crude palm oil merely for the number of investments or revenues, then Sabah’s absolute poverty rate will continue to increase.
“This in turn will cause certain sub-sectors in the service sector such as retail/wholesale, food & beverages/accommodation to continue to suffer due to irregular and lack of purchasing power by Sabahans and eventually, many operators will have no other options but to close shop,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
Munirah who also heads the JPRN’s Poverty Policy Committee said that the party has identified several action plans to alleviate the absolute poverty incidence in Sabah but explained that it will require support by everyone especially the business communities.
“JPRN believes that business communities in Sabah play a vital role in alleviating the absolute poverty incidence in Sabah not only through its CSR programmes but also through a new strategic economic partnership model with the State Government.
“Poverty alleviation is dependent on competent governance and the state of economy especially through longterm and stable employment, hence, if we want the business communities to support our action plans, then we should also provide a conducive and profitable ecosystem to them too.
“What the party envisioned to do within six months after forming the new government is to launch Sabah’s new Poverty Alleviation Blueprint which, among others, will enable Sabahans to surpass not only the hardcore poverty lines but the absolute poverty as well.
“Poverty alleviation is a ‘jihad’ for Parti Warisan because we believe that as government leaders who will have the power and authority to chart Sabah’s direction, we must first and foremost prioritize the wellbeing and future of Sabahans who have put their trust on us to lead the State,” she concluded.