Wage war on poverty, Penang govt told
In the wake of "extremist forces" hijacking the country's narrative, the Penang government has been urged to wage a war on poverty as addressed in the state Budget 2020.
PKR Bukit Tengah assemblyperson Gooi Hsiao Leung said poverty affects all races, albeit Chinese, Indians and Malays.
In the wake of "extremist forces" hijacking the country's narrative, the Penang government has been urged to wage a war on poverty as addressed in the state Budget 2020.
PKR Bukit Tengah assemblyperson Gooi Hsiao Leung (above) said poverty affects all races, Chinese, Indians and Malays.
He said statistics revealed that there are 2.78 million low-income families (B40), where 5.7 per cent or 158,460 families are found in Penang.
"With an average family size of four people, we are looking at 633,840 people or said at a press conference at Dewan Sri Pinang today.
Gooi cited UN special rapporteur Philip Alston's criticism on the way Malaysia measures poverty as highly unrealistic.
Describing the current national poverty line of RM980 as ridiculous, Alston went on to say surviving on that amount cannot be done except under really dire circumstances.
Gooi said Penang's property line is fixed at RM790 per household per month, it is lower than the national property line of RM980.
Gooi said a recent report by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) found that if relative property is measured below 60 per cent of the country's median income, 22 per cent of household would be classified as poor in 2016 (1 in 5 Malaysians are poor).
He said another study by KRI found that 1 million households nationwide representing 36.2 per cent of B40 families are living below the relative property line income of RM2,291 per month.
"If we were to apply the same poverty line income figures in Penang, then we are looking at 57,362 families or 13 per cent out of Penang's entire population, that 1 in 8 people in our state are living in poverty, which is still very sizeable in numbers," he said.
"I cannot imagine how those families living in relative poverty of RM2,291 per month can survive when the average monthly cost of household expenditure in Penang is 4,190 per month (based on 2016 statistics)," he added.
KRI found in 2016 that households with a monthly income of 2,000 (more than twice poverty line) spent 94.8 per cent of their incomes on just basic household consumption items alone.
Gooi said the key to winning the war on poverty is to address child poverty of every race as they are the next generation of poor adults.
Based on latest state assembly figures, 26 per cent out of 235,661 students, earn less than 2,000 a month.
"Please clarify how many children are receiving monthly social welfare children assistance in Penang?" Gooi asked.
Based on records by the District Office, only 86 households from Seberang Perai are receiving funds for the poor.
Gooi then asked how many are receiving monthly financial assistance under the state 'Bantuan Am' and 'Bantuan Kanak-Kanak' programmes by the Welfare Department.
He said the state government is currently finalising plans to increase the state poverty line income (PLI) to be in line with the national PLI of RM960, which has been widely criticised as too low.
"I urge the state to adopt Penang Institute's proposal to conduct a specific poverty line which will be calculated based on local needs and socio-economic conditions of Penang.
"I also urge the state to come up with an overall child policy for Penang that specifically targets child poverty, covering healthcare, security and access to early childhood development programmes for poor children as proposed by Penang Institute," he said.
