Dr M concedes there's a need to adjust poverty line

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has admitted that there is a need to adjust the poverty line of RM980 per household.

"Poverty line? I think there is a need for that," he told reporters when asked about the need for the government to change the calculations it uses to measure poverty.

However he added that the poverty rate in the country was not as bad as described by UN special rapporteur Philip Alston.

"It is not as bad as what is pointed out by the people who come here for one day, stay in a big hotel and then pass judgement," he said after chairing Bersatu Supreme Council meeting today.

Without elaborating, he said the cabinet meeting he chaired had discussed the poverty line issue.

On Aug 24, Alston said Malaysia's poverty line of RM980 per household, which translated to a poverty rate of 0.4 percent, was unrealistically low.

"The use of a very low and highly unrealistic poverty line obscures the more troubling reality that millions of families scrape by on very low incomes and there is significant hardship in urban as well as rural areas," said the UN official.

Alston said that in his view the poverty rate in Malaysia was closer to 15 percent.

[More to follow] - Mkini