Many Malaysians are homeless even as the property market booms and the government must face up to a looming housing crisis.
Among those who spoke at a roundtable discussion on this matter was Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) representative Jayanath Appudural, who said a challenge must be thrown to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
"We should be radical and ask the PM to come and try living in a low-cost flat for just one day," Jayanath said, adding that Najib should also try to make do with an income of RM680 a month.
The problem, according to Jayanath, is that the people at the top have not experienced poverty and were too far removed from the problem.
SABM is among a dozen NGOs that joined hands with Parti Sosialis Malaysia(PSM) to initiate a campaign on this problem where the poor were squeezed into unkempt, low-cost flats while property speculators reaped profits from a price bubble.
"They must stop profiteering from land as the government is only the custodian of Malaysian land," said Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, PSM’s MP for Sungai Siput.
"What is happening now is that the supply of houses is not meeting the needs of the market. Too many houses are being built for the rich who can pay and there are not enough houses for the poor," Jeyakumar said.
Profit-driven enterprises
He said that nearly a quarter of Malaysia's 6.7 million households do not own their houses and they mostly earned RM3,000 a month.
Instead, he said, the government’s so-called housing schemes were often profit-driven enterprises in partnership with state development corporations.
Jeyakumar noted that from 2006-2010, only 13 percent of the houses built by the private sector were priced below RM50,000 - the "affordable" benchmark for these groups.
The bulk of government-backed houses, under PR1MA projects - were priced between RM100,000 and RM450,000 - beyond the reach of the poor.
He said another recent scheme, MyHome, which gave away RM30,000 to first-time property buyers, only inflated house prices further.
Jeyakumar emphasised that PSM was not pushing for more government handouts but wanted justice as a "social contract" has been violated.
"Our working people are forced to accept lower wages to compete with other country's economies. We have brought in three million foreign workers...
"Therefore, it is only right that the government builds houses for the poor. This is not alms-giving. As a social contract, housing should be geared towards people in the lower income," he said.
Jeyakumar cited that total wages only made up to a third of GDP, much lower than that in other developing countries.
He said about 700,000 Malaysian households were now forced to live in shabby, low-cost flats, a place for "breeding crime".
Shocking conditions
Julie Wong, from Permas, who has visited many of these flats, agreed.
"In Kota Damansara, the conditions are truly shocking... Four blocks are being put next to a garbage dump. Also, many of these so-called PPR flats are not being distributed to the deserving people.
"About half are rented to foreign workers and the management cannot control them because they don't know where the owners are," Wong said.
The discussion went on like this for another two hours as participants took turns expressing their frustrations in tackling this long-standing problem, which has faced a government stonewall.
Former civil servant and director of think-thank Midas, KJ John (right), urged PSM to use its connections to get the opposition-run Penang and Selangor governments to set examples by starting housing models that can work.
"If we are serious, we must get Penang and Selangor on board because they have models that work and don't work... But if we inadvertently back models that don't work, then we are part of the problem," John said.
Jeyakumar promised that he would put all ideas into a memorandum to be sent to Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Ggovernment Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Among other things, PSM will demand that the government gives urban squatters the land they are residing on, amend the law to let local councils manage low-cost flats, form a housing trust as a non-profit entity aimed at churning out houses costing below RM50,000 each.
The government should also start a savings scheme for house buyers to prevent loss of income due to economic crisis, and a housing board to rent out cheap homes to those earning RM2,000 and below, Jeyakumar added.
Among those who spoke at a roundtable discussion on this matter was Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) representative Jayanath Appudural, who said a challenge must be thrown to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
"We should be radical and ask the PM to come and try living in a low-cost flat for just one day," Jayanath said, adding that Najib should also try to make do with an income of RM680 a month.
The problem, according to Jayanath, is that the people at the top have not experienced poverty and were too far removed from the problem.
SABM is among a dozen NGOs that joined hands with Parti Sosialis Malaysia(PSM) to initiate a campaign on this problem where the poor were squeezed into unkempt, low-cost flats while property speculators reaped profits from a price bubble."They must stop profiteering from land as the government is only the custodian of Malaysian land," said Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, PSM’s MP for Sungai Siput.
"What is happening now is that the supply of houses is not meeting the needs of the market. Too many houses are being built for the rich who can pay and there are not enough houses for the poor," Jeyakumar said.
Profit-driven enterprises
He said that nearly a quarter of Malaysia's 6.7 million households do not own their houses and they mostly earned RM3,000 a month.
Instead, he said, the government’s so-called housing schemes were often profit-driven enterprises in partnership with state development corporations.
Jeyakumar noted that from 2006-2010, only 13 percent of the houses built by the private sector were priced below RM50,000 - the "affordable" benchmark for these groups.
The bulk of government-backed houses, under PR1MA projects - were priced between RM100,000 and RM450,000 - beyond the reach of the poor.
He said another recent scheme, MyHome, which gave away RM30,000 to first-time property buyers, only inflated house prices further.
Jeyakumar emphasised that PSM was not pushing for more government handouts but wanted justice as a "social contract" has been violated.
"Our working people are forced to accept lower wages to compete with other country's economies. We have brought in three million foreign workers..."Therefore, it is only right that the government builds houses for the poor. This is not alms-giving. As a social contract, housing should be geared towards people in the lower income," he said.
Jeyakumar cited that total wages only made up to a third of GDP, much lower than that in other developing countries.
He said about 700,000 Malaysian households were now forced to live in shabby, low-cost flats, a place for "breeding crime".
Shocking conditions
Julie Wong, from Permas, who has visited many of these flats, agreed.
"In Kota Damansara, the conditions are truly shocking... Four blocks are being put next to a garbage dump. Also, many of these so-called PPR flats are not being distributed to the deserving people.
"About half are rented to foreign workers and the management cannot control them because they don't know where the owners are," Wong said.
The discussion went on like this for another two hours as participants took turns expressing their frustrations in tackling this long-standing problem, which has faced a government stonewall.
Former civil servant and director of think-thank Midas, KJ John (right), urged PSM to use its connections to get the opposition-run Penang and Selangor governments to set examples by starting housing models that can work."If we are serious, we must get Penang and Selangor on board because they have models that work and don't work... But if we inadvertently back models that don't work, then we are part of the problem," John said.
Jeyakumar promised that he would put all ideas into a memorandum to be sent to Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Ggovernment Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Among other things, PSM will demand that the government gives urban squatters the land they are residing on, amend the law to let local councils manage low-cost flats, form a housing trust as a non-profit entity aimed at churning out houses costing below RM50,000 each.
The government should also start a savings scheme for house buyers to prevent loss of income due to economic crisis, and a housing board to rent out cheap homes to those earning RM2,000 and below, Jeyakumar added.
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