Database system needed to overcome absolute poverty issue

The issue of absolute poverty in Malaysia can be resolved effectively if the government forms an integrated database.

The database functions as a reference that could be accessed by everyone including the Social Welfare Department (JKM) and state zakat institutions.

The existence of the database can ease the government's effort in providing various forms of skill training and business opportunity as a "fishing rod" to remove the low income or B40 groups from absolute poverty.

However, the non-existence of the system that was systematic was the cause that the aid from JKM and zakat institutions did not reach the groups that really needed it.

"I see that the current situation is similar to when the Covid-19 pandemic affected the country for more than two years, which then became the main cause of many M40 groups falling into poverty as countless companies and economic sectors had to close down.

"When the economy reopened in 2022, the group that was able to recover quickly was the rich people as they had assets that could allow them to gain profits in return, while the B40 group was unable to do so as they were facing difficulties finding a new job and they have no assets that they could liquefy," said Putra Business School MBA programme (PBS) director Associate Professor Dr Ahmad Razman Abdul Latiff.

Majority of Malaysians living in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor currently fall under the M40 group, but they were also identified as the urban poor category because their total expenses exceeded their monthly household income.

Thus, Ahmed Razman said the government needed to review the definition of absolute poverty, B40 and M40 categories accordingly to demographic location, number of children and health status of the people.

It was crucial because the M40 group living in Kuala Lumpur with a household income of RM4,500 per month was categorised as the poor urban as they could not afford the living expenses in the capital city which amounted to RM5,500 to RM6,5000 per month.

"That is why the M40 group living in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor could not live comfortably in comparison to those in Kelantan and Kedah," said Ahmed Razman.

Culture of expecting aid

Universiti Malaya Centre for Internship Training and Academic Enrichment (CITrA) senior lecturer Dr Muhammad Shamshinor Abdul Azzis said he was of the view that among the main causes that the government still failed to handle the issue of absolute poverty among the people in the country was because of sociocultural factor and mindset.

Muhammad Shamshinor revealed that there were some Malaysians who practiced the culture of expecting aid to continue with their lives

He said even if there was an opportunity to escape from poverty, they would refuse to work to increase their household income and continue to wait for aid to be given by the government or private sectors and government charity organisations.

He said the situation became severe after the government expanded the absolute poverty's definition to family with household income under RM4,851 per month in 2022 and acted unfair to people in need from groups B10 and T20.

He said the absolute poverty definition in Malaysia was outdated as it only used household income as the baseline in comparison to the definition used by developed countries which included wider aspects by taking into consideration the level of education, standard of living, health, number of children and others.

"Certain individuals have a monthly wage of RM10,000, but it is not enough because they can have many children, a disabled child and so on.

"There are also individuals in the B40 group who made less than RM4,000 per month but live comfortably as they live in Kelantan and Kedah which have relatively low cost of living in comparison to big cities like Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor Bahru or Penang," he said.

Misappropriation and leakages

Muhammad Shamshinor said among the reasons why absolute poverty eradication programmes by the government implemented nationwide failed was because of misappropriation of funds and leakages in the distribution of funds channeled each year.

"Through Bugdet 2023, I hope the government could show their determination in dealing with issues of leakages and corruption that are becoming more prevalent in Malaysia, thus allowing us to have more funds to help people in need.

"Additionally, the government can focus on food security by encouraging youth from the rural areas to pursue career in modern agriculture to help their family escape from poverty," he said.

Muhammad Shamsinor agreed that the creation of the integrated database accessible to everyone was the best way to stop absolute poverty.

"If we want to demolish absolute poverty then the government must create a system that contains records of all recipients for assistance like e-Kasih, zakat and NGO aid on a monthly basis.

"The absence of a database system causes injustice in fund distribution because there are groups that received lots of assistance while the other groups did not receive a single help," he said.

He stressed that it was important for the government to know the exact number of B40 group who should receive government aid every month.