The non-participation of the rich in uplifting the lot of the poor has become a serious problem in the country, a social worker told a national conference on urban poverty recently.

Jasmine Adaickalam, service director at Social Strategic Foundation (YSS), MIC's social service wing, said the affluent should get directly involved in issues affecting the urban poor.

"Is there a real, sincere and genuine interest in the poor?" she said when met at the Urban Poor and Low-Income families towards the 9th Malaysia Plan seminar in Kuala Lumpur early this week.

"They should not just ask the poor to improve their lot. The rich have everything. They have a voice and a choice.

"It's not enough to merely hand out money or gifts. The affluent should get personally involved with a voluntary commitment to offer their time and talents regardless of their position in the government or corporate sectors."

For example, said Jasmine, the rich could share their rags-to-riches stories.

"They could pose as role models for poor children who can gain a lot from their life experiences and be motivated to strive for the best.

"This would be the real, actual engagement with the poor."

Progress reports

She said the feedback mechanism should also be improved to allow for progress reports to be provided to both the relevant government agencies and the social bodies.

"The weakness in the Malaysian system is the monitoring and implementation of policies."

During one of the question-and-answer sessions, she proposed that future seminars on urban poverty be held at slum areas instead of posh hotels for greater "exposure to the affluent population".

Speaking on the complexities of urban poverty, Persatuan Pengasih Malaysia president Mohd Yunus Pathi believed that the urban poor were most exposed to a whole range of distractions and pressures.

"The psychological disturbances involve low self-esteem and a feeling of being marginalised which leads to the urban poor being prone to crime and lagging far behind in education," he said, drawing from his past as a former drug addict.

"For the urban poor, the easy way out becomes their way of life and families become dysfunctional."

Citing figures from the National Drug Information System for 2003, he said about 44 percent of the country's addicts were from the three "most urbanised" territories - Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Selangor.

"We can safely assume that they hold low-paying jobs due to their low level of education, they live in cramped flats and have no chance of self-enhancement due to the lack of skills.

"This is very unfortunate for city folks because a lot of resources are taken up by unending enforcement and rehabilitation efforts."

Financing programme

Urging for greater community participation and inclusion of anti-drug curriculum in schools, Mohd Yunus said more consistent programmes are needed to eradicate urban poverty.

The inclusiveness of Malaysia's micro-credit financing scheme was also questioned.

A participant Dr John Gurusamy, representing the Malaysian Interfaith Network, asked panelists why Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) has failed to include non-Malays, particularly Malaysian Indians, in its micro-credit financing programme.

"I would like to know why, especially with regards to the poor among the Indian community. I think we need to catch the bull by the horns and avoid ethnic tensions," he said, echoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's concerns during his keynote address earlier.

Women, Family and Community Development deputy minister G Palanivel, who touched on AIM, said he did not know the exact reason why Indians were left out until recently.

"I can't give an exact reason. When the programme was first introduced, 20 Indians got involved but it stopped there. Maybe it was due to a lack of public awareness."

He earlier noted that although AIM, launched in 1987, had registered 65,000 families in the micro-credit financing programme it had overlooked the Indians.

Vulnerable groups

"Today, 700 Indian women are participating in the programme at a cost of almost RM2 million.

"But access is still difficult to AIM, resulting in the poor being easily de-motivated or disenchanted with the programme," he said, adding that the vulnerable groups could do with a lot more assistance.

Palanivel said vulnerable groups were those without savings, not owning houses, without proper housing or jobs, informal sector workers, the ill and aged, and victims or survivors of road accidents or other disasters.

The seminar, which had 14 panelists, attracted over 250 participants from the public and private sectors, special interest groups, academicians and individuals.

The one-day seminar was jointly organised by YSS, the Asian Strategic & Leadership Foundation, Institut Social Malaysia and USM.