Putrajaya urged to address poverty in Sabah, Kelantan

Sabah and Kelantan lawmakers have urged the government to address poverty in the two states, which are among the country’s poorest.

Speaking at the “Economy, Poverty and Disparity in Malaysia” seminar in parliament this afternoon, Warisan Kalabakan MP Ma’mun Sulaiman highlighted how 74,296 out of Sabah’s 3.9 million population was categorised as poor (less than RM980 household income per month) as of Jan 2019.

Of this number, 19,469 people were considered as hardcore poor where households survived on less than RM580 a month.

According to Ma’mun, many Sabahan youths lacked job opportunities in the state and were compelled to look for employment in Peninsular Malaysia or overseas. Also, parts of the state sorely needed basic infrastructure.

He, thus, urged Putrajaya to honour the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) and return to the state what it was due in order to enable more development.

“We call for our rights under MA63 (to be honoured), because the (oil royalty) revenue is ours and we want it back.

“Return it to Sabah so we can develop the state and develop the society,” he said.

Ma’mun cautioned that present conditions have caused discontent among locals.

“Some Sabahans perceive that there is a ‘federal agenda’ to keep Sabah undeveloped and uneducated [...] (they think) its infrastructure is kept backwards so that Sabah will not be able to progress, allowing it to continue to be ‘colonised’ by Malaya. That is what some Sabahans perceive.

“In this new, more open government, poverty needs to be a major agenda, and it needs to be handled well, especially in Sabah,” he stressed.

More budget, infrastructure for Kelantan

Speaking on behalf of Kelantan was PAS Kubang Kerian MP Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Mat (photo).

Official statistics have categorised 31,217 of the east coast state’s 1.86 million population as poor, of which 6,218 are considered as hardcore poor. Its poverty rate is 0.4 percent.

Tuan Ibrahim urged Putrajaya to be “brave” in addressing disparity and poverty across the different states in Budget 2020.

“We will soon see the budget being tabled and debated. Let’s see how much allocation they will give to the states regarded as poor [...] we need to break out of the old way of doing things.

“There is no point in saying this or that state is poor when there is no budget allocation, no development and no plans for it. Allocations for opposition MPs is only RM100,000 (a year).

“We need to brave because this is not for us but the people [...],” he told the audience.

Later during the question and answer session, UKM politics professor Mohammad Agus Yusoff stood up and similarly called for more infrastructure development in Kelantan.

He said he disagreed with Khazanah Research Institute economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram’s earlier opposition to the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.

“As someone from Kelantan [...] I want to say that the ECRL is extremely important and must be allowed to continue.

“[...] I have long said that Kelantan needs better transport, facilities and infrastructure in the state to reduce poverty,” Mohammad Agus said.

In response, Jomo clarified that he was against the RM44 billion project after it was revealed that it was intended to bail out 1MDB and advocated alternative measures to help develop Kelantan.

Today’s seminar was organised by the Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance, which is headed by Port Dickson MP Anwar Ibrahim.

The audience heard from presentations from Jomo as well as Universiti Malaya Asia-Europe Institute economics professor Rajah Rasiah in response to a UN report that Malaysia was severely undercounting its poor.

In the audience were lawmakers from across the political divide including those from PKR, DAP, Amanah, Warisan, PAS and Umno. - Mkini