Two million poor households show failure of Putrajaya’s policies, senior Sabah rep says

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 8 — The recent statement that two million or one third of households in Malaysia earn less than RM3,000 a month is proof of the ineffectiveness of Putrajaya’s poverty eradication programmes, Sabah State Reform Party chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said.

The opposition party leader said this statement, which came in the wake of another “rosy announcement” that the average Malaysian household income is RM5,900 per month, is a “diversion ploy” and “misinformation” for the upcoming Budget 2015 announcement.

“How many of these two million households are in Sabah and Sarawak?

“What happened to the poverty eradication programmes so proudly announced by the federal and Sabah governments with the Chief Minister of Sabah trumpeting that there was a gigantic reduction of poverty levels in Sabah?” he asked in a statement here today.

The Bingkor assemblyman said in November 2013, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) had announced that Sabah households make up 39.3 per cent or 42,400 of the country’s lower-income households while Sarawak makes up 11.7 per cent or 12,600 poor households. There are a total of 108,000 households in this category.

“If the same 51 per cent portion for Sabah and Sarawak is maintained, that translates to 1.02 million poor households in Sabah and Sarawak.

“Suddenly, in less than a year, there is an almost 20-fold increase in poor households or households earning less than RM3,000 per month,” he said.

“What policy revisions will be taken to eradicate poverty in Sabah, principally, the cabotage policy and minimum wage of RM800 which is lower than the Peninsula?” he asked.

Kitingan said the continued siphoning of oil and gas resources from Sabah and Sarawak with five per cent return is a cause of poverty and should no longer be accepted.

“Instead of the BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia) handouts, will there be a sustained programme to eradicate poverty and increase incomes of the people rather than price hikes like the petrol hike which reduces purchasing power?”

He said the federal government should shift its focus to address the poverty, under-development, and unfair policies in Sabah and Sarawak, so that the income gap with the Peninsula is reduced as soon as possible.

Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said that two million Malaysian households, or 28.7 per cent of the total earn less than RM3,000 each month while households earning more than RM3,000 monthly grew from 61.3 per cent in 2012 to 71.3 per cent this year.

He also said that median household income in Malaysia rose by eight per cent annually for the past five years, beating the inflation rate of 2.3 per cent in the same period.