Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa needs to focus on job creation instead of coalition politics and staying in power, said Wangsa Maju MP Tan Yee Kew.
She was reacting to a grim report by the United Nations children's fund (Unicef) which revealed that unemployment rates among low-income urban households doubled in the Klang Valley from September to December last year.
Based on a survey of 500 households in Kuala Lumpur’s low-cost flats, it was found that unemployment had increased from 7 percent in September to 15 percent in December.
One in three adults in these households were said to be without a job, revealed the report, called 'Families on the Edge'.
"I think the report captures the picture of poverty in Wangsa Maju very accurately," Tan told Malaysiakini.
"In my area, most people are from low-income and working-class groups. During the pandemic, many are doing part-time jobs and freelance contract work to cover expenses. But they are hit very hard."
She spoke of a fish stall operator who is supporting his parents, sister who is a single mother and grandfather.
"They are all depending on income from one stall. In 2018 and 2019 they used to have two stalls and were comfortable.
"Now there is not enough business, it is reduced to 30 percent and they have to close one stall, leaving more people out of work."
Tan added that she was keeping basic food items in her office because so many people will come to ask for help when they visit.
The study showed the poverty rate among the study sample stood at 42 percent in December, with higher rates among persons with liabilities (PWD)-headed households (55 percent), and female-headed households (61 percent).
"A lot of single mothers sell nasi lemak or work as cleaners or dishwashers in kopitiam. Even these jobs have ended. With the movement control order (MCO) there is no dine-in, so no dishes to wash," she lamented.
Tan called on Annuar to work on job creation as there was a crisis situation unfolding.
"Open up land for people to work on projects - going around giving rice and charity hampers is not a long-term solution, and neither is playing politics at a time like this," she added.
She also pleaded with the government to make it a firm policy that the jobless would not suffer electricity and water cuts because they could not pay their bills.
"They don't even have money to feed themselves, what more pay the bills. This pandemic has exposed the plight of the urban poor, most of whom have no savings and low wages," she added.
Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said he had also received messages from people facing hardship including loss of jobs and the inability to make rent.
"The report by Unicef is very worrying and matches with the experience that my team and I have when we go to the ground and visit families and deliver aid packs," he said.
Fahmi added that the situation is compounded if the breadwinner of a B40 family gets infected with Covid-19.
"(If a) breadwinner tests positive and the rest of the family becomes infected or have to quarantine, there is an immediate emergency situation particularly if they are day wage earners.
"The actual lived experience of the urban poor is that they have very little support from the government," he said.
The government, he said, has failed to make sure that sufficient safety nets were in place to stem the increasing number of vulnerable families impacted.
Fahmi reminded Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's government that the B40 did not stay only in PPR housing but in low-cost flats as well.
"There must be swift action to address the issue of loss of income and also to make sure that those who are impacted by Covid-19 have some immediate remedies.
"The government has full emergency powers in place, yet there is an inability to meet the demands of the people. If they can't fix it, they should not be the government," he added.
Meanwhile, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said that it can safely be forecasted that the unemployment rates would continue to climb this year, especially after the government imposed the latest MCO and declared emergency rule, simultaneously.
"As an MP in Kuala Lumpur, thus far, not much action has been taken except for one whereby the FT minister announced that DBKL will allow hawkers to put up stalls at any place they wished.
"And Muhyiddin announced that the government will donate 5,700 packets of rice for the poor on Federal Territory Day, on top of the various one-off handouts to them.
"We all know that this kind of piecemeal approach will not resolve the increase in urban poverty in Kuala Lumpur and in the Klang Valley," said Kok in a statement.
"It is also an irony that there are many economic sectors in the Klang Valley that are facing problems of shortage of workers, and these companies don’t seem to know where to recruit locals, to fill the vacancies left by foreign workers," she added.
Among the other shocking findings in the 'Families on Edge' report include that 63 percent of households were experiencing difficulties in meeting basic needs and purchasing daily essentials even with zakat and government aid.
Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said it was very worrying that these families are also beginning to experience increased pessimism, with only 10 percent expecting their financial situation to improve and 52 percent of household heads experiencing stress over not being able to provide enough food for their families (59 percent for females).
"These findings are a damning indictment of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government’s failure to not only control the Covid-19 pandemic but also in preventing the ensuing socio-economic fallout.
"In short, it has failed miserably to protect both the lives and livelihoods of Malaysians," he told Malaysiakini.
"It has ignored sensible feedback, not only from elected representatives but medical scholars, industry bodies and civil society groups," he added.
Nik Nazmi said all the administration had offered suffering Malaysians were timid, half-hearted stimulus packages and a budget that did nothing to address the economic hardship faced by many.
"Its focus appears to be on little else but its own political survival and aggrandisement," he added.
Najib sad and angry
Former premier Najib Abdul Razak said in a Facebook post that he was saddened and angered by the report and expressed his belief that the effects of a prolonged conditional MCO were far worse than a strict, yet short, MCO.
The Pekan MP said that if the report were true, then the PN government has failed the people.
“That’s why I asked the government to impose a proper MCO that’s tight, coupled with the necessary government aid, so that the effects are short and it’s not extended multiple times.
“But the government did not listen. What benefits have the people obtained from the past 27 days of this half-baked MCO 2.0?
"Covid-19 cases are still high, while active cases yesterday were 51,241," said Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and who was sentenced to a 12-year jail term and fined RM210 million after being found guilty on corruption and abuse of power charges in July 2020.
He went on to say that there was increasing speculation that Putrajaya intentionally loosened restrictions so that Covid-19 cases would remain high, thus allowing the lockdown and emergency to be extended.
"I hope this is not true," he said, adding that it would be treason against the people as Putrajaya would be sacrificing the people’s health and welfare. - Mkini
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