Dec 15: The recent National Conference on Urban Poverty Advocacy, Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation is a clear indication of the seriousness and growing awareness of the problem of urban poverty, writes YONG TIAM KUI.
FOR a long time, poverty has been perceived largely as a rural problem in Malaysia. As a consequence, government strategies, programmes and development expenditure for poverty alleviation reflected a strong rural bias.But, with rapid urbanisation, poverty has increasingly acquired an urban face. In 1980, only 34 per cent of the population lived in urban areas. Ten years later, the figure had jumped to 52 per cent.
The latest census in 2000 shows that urbanites now make up 62 per cent of the population. Over the past 30 years, Malaysia has had a great deal of success in reducing poverty through effective intervention programmes which mainly targeted the rural population.
In 1970, the incidence of poverty in Malaysia was 52.4 per cent. By 1995, the figure had fallen to 9.6 per cent. Two years later, the figure was further reduced to 6.1 per cent. The poverty level rose again slightly to 8.1 per cent in 1999 as a result of the Asian financial crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says the majority of households that fell below the poverty line as a result of the Asian financial crisis were in urban areas, where contraction in economic activities had resulted in higher retrenchment, increased unemployment and greater under-employment.
According to the Eighth Malaysia Plan, there were 83,800 urban poor households in 1995. In 1997, the figure had dropped to 52,400. But, in 1999 the figure had risen to 86,800. The poverty rate in Kuala Lumpur which was 0.5 per cent in 1995 rose to 2.3 per cent in 1999. The urban poor include the unemployed and those engaged in low productivity traditional urban activities such as artisans, petty traders, hawkers, household servants and other activities requiring little or no skill or training. Abdullah says policy responses to poverty must take into account the changing dimensions of poverty in Malaysia.
He says new approaches will have to be considered and poverty alleviation measures that have served the country in the past will also have to be fine-tuned. Interestingly, government statistics indicate that while the Bumiputeras have the highest incidence of urban poverty, the Indians have the lowest. In 1997, the incidence of urban poverty among Bumiputeras, Chinese and Indians was 3.52, 0.72 and 0.56 per cent respectively. In 1999, it was 4.41, 2.20 and 1.69 per cent respectively.
The Government is very conscious of the fact that the current poverty measures may not adequately reflect the extent of poverty in urban areas. This is because the same poverty line income (PLI) is used without any distinction between rural and urban populations even though everybody knows that urban households need higher incomes to sustain a reasonable standard of living than their rural counterparts.
In 1998, the household poverty line income figures for Peninsular Malay-sia, Sabah and Sarawak were RM493, RM667 and RM572 respectively. In 1999, the figures were RM510, RM685 and RM584 respectively. These figures clearly do not reflect the real cost of living in the country's towns and cities. So, there is a great need for a realistic PLI framework to be worked out for both absolute and relative poverty in urban and rural areas, says Datuk Halipah Esa, deputy director-general of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department.
Abdullah says the Government is concerned about the impact of globalisation on the poor as it will widen the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" who lack access to capital and information technology. Abdullah notes, for instance, that the globalisation of information will result in greater exposure to consumerism and lead to unachievable expectations among urban populations.
The consequent feelings of deprivation, frustration and anger, he warns, may well result in social, ethnic and religious turmoil. National Unity and Social Development Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk S. Veerasingam says urban poverty has to be collaboratively addressed due to its complex and multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral nature. He says Pusat Rahmat, a one-stop model aimed at improving the quality of life of local communities, which was initiated by the Rural Development Ministry (the focal agency for anti-poverty programmes) and jointly serviced with the co-operation of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Social Welfare Department and several NGOs is a fine example of the kind of inter-agency and multi-sectoral collaboration that is so necessary in the fight against urban poverty.
Halipah says the following government strategies will go a long way to redress the problem of urban poverty: encourage rapid economic growth to create income-generating employment to achieve full-employment;
promote industrialisation to transform Malaysia from an exporter of primary products to manufactured goods;
allocate funds for the construction sector to enlarge the scope of employment for the poor;
increase productivity through education and training;
improve access to basic services including housing, water supply, sewerage, electricity, transportation and health;
promote the development of small-scale enterprises and petty trading by providing greater access to credit, special loan schemes, trading premises, technical expertise and extension services; and,
implement various programmes at the local authority level.
Halipah says there is a great need to develop a registry for the mapping of urban poverty. Institutions responsible for urban poverty should also be strengthened.
Target groups, both in urban and rural areas, must be identified and encouraged to participate on the basis of smart partnership with the Government, NGOs and private sector, she adds. Halipah says there is a great need to address the digital divide between the rich and poor, and replace squatter settlements with decent housing. A total of 572,268 low-cost houses were built between 1971 and 2000, 208,644 in the public sector and 363,624 in the private sector. Another 17,630 houses are expected to be completed by 2005 in line with the Government's "zero squatter" goal. Yayasan Strategik Sosial service director Jasmine Adaickalam says YSS has learned the following through micro-studies that it has conducted in urban poor neighbourhoods:
- current poverty measures are impractical when the high cost of living in urban areas is taken into consideration;
- poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that has to be dealt with holistically;
- poverty eradication programmes for women have to be implemented in a holistic and integrated manner in partnership with the community and individual families to foster the development of social responsibility;
- the urban poor consists of both self-employed individuals and the labouring poor who are not risk-takers. So, initiatives must also be put in place to help the labouring poor to find jobs that fit whatever informal skills that they possess;
- even though sustainability and self-reliance is emphasised, there has to be a good deal of social preparation with the aid of co-ordinating machinery at the grassroots level to usher in greater receptivity on the part of the poor to mindset change and alternate thinking; and,
- social ills such as alcoholism, domestic violence and gangsterism are manifestations of poverty. A preachy holier-than-thou attitude is not helpful in such circumstances.
Jasmine says self-help initiatives are powerful tools because they can help transform the minds of the poor who are often mired in fatalistic and defeatist attitudes. Agencies involved in licensing and registering small business enterprises should simplify application procedures for the benefit of the poor, she adds.
She also suggests that a taskforce be set up for the express purpose of conducting research on urban poverty in the country.
You can refer to the website www.yss98.com for more information on the problem of urban poverty in Malaysia.
(Submitted on 16th December 2002)
|
