Poorer than we think: Malaysia’s official poverty figures ‘vastly’ undercounted, says UN expert
M'sia’s claim world’s lowest national poverty rate inaccurate
official figure vastly undercounts poverty, says UN expert Philip Alston
UN Special Rapporteur said M'sia uses unduly low poverty line
does not reflect cost of living
excludes vulnerable populations from official figures
(OSTB : Maksudnya Kerajaan PH pun sudah belajar klentong. I say Mat - Penasihat Ekonomi PM - hangpa do merapu apa ini? To be frank I dont even believe Guan Eng's 4.9% growth in the last quarter.)
official claim poverty eradicated incorrect, crippled policymaking
he said at the end of 11-day visit here
official poverty rate dropped from 49% in 1970 to 0.4% in 2016
However national poverty line of RM980 per household per month would see an urban family of four surviving on RM8 per person per day
“This is tragically low for a country about to attain high income status
a range of rigorous independent analyses suggest more realistic poverty rate of 16 to 20%,” Alston said
about 9% of households survive on less than RM2,000 per month
Actual poverty rates much higher than official figures suggest
govt needs to reassess how it measures poverty
so that hardship faced is not conjured out of existence by statistical sleight of hand
(OSTB : In more diplomatic language the Govt must really stop masturbating.)
Alston urged govt to urgently reconsider approach
if country is to make any real progress on this issue
large parts of population being left behind
many people above official poverty line are in fact in poverty, he said.
undercounting also led to under-investment in poverty reduction
and inadequate social safety net that does not meet people’s needs
fragmented social protection puts many people’s rights to food, housing and education at risk, he said
poor people in M'sia, especially Orang Asli, suffered disproportionate violations of their civil and political rights.
govt should urgently revise poverty measurement to bring it into line with the country’s cost of living, and it should include vulnerable non-citizen groups in the new measure.
stop arbitrarily withholding information crucial to understanding poverty and inequality, such as household survey microdata,” he said
(OSTB : So the Malaysia Baru government is not being transparent, they are hiding results of official surveys from public scrutiny.)
new govt should not deny existence of poor and marginalised
“Instead, it should step up efforts to fulfil their rights,” he said.
Alston will present report to Human Rights Council in Geneva in June next year
(OSTB comments : No doubt almost ALL Orang Asli live below the poverty line. I do not know if the Orang Asli consider themselves as living below our definiton of poverty. But most certainly the Orang Asli rights are being trample upon. Especially by those Serambi Syaitan fellows.
But anyway, this UN expert's comments that RM980 monthly income for a family of FOUR in an urban environment works out to RM8 per day per person certainly requires that we relook our poverty parameters.
There are few Orang Asli in the urban areas. There are some Chinese, some Indians but plenty Malays in this category especially in the urban areas.
Folks, despite the presence of economists and 'business experts' the government does not seem to understand either business or economics.
The situation is like this. There is still a large and now widening again economic disparity (jurang perbezaan ekonomi) among the Chinese, Indians, Malays, Dayaks, Dusuns, Kadazans etc. I dont think it is getting any better.
Here is the real disaster - whatever per capita income figure the government shows for the Malays / bumiputras etc you have to deduct a sizeable portion of it because they are government subsidies.
Without government intervention the Malay / bumiputra per capita income will be much, much less than the "official numbers" show. Maybe you can deduct 50% or more of the Malay / bumiputra per capita income as from government subsidies.
The Chinese and the Indians on the other hand have earned their income - to a very large extent - without much or very little government assistance. They have learned to become economically resilient and sustain themselves. It is called working hard. So there is a quality to their per capita income.
THIS IS A VERY VERY BIG DIFFERENCE. In fact this makes ALL the difference.
The Malays / bumiputras are at the bottom.
This is where the politicians and the government leaders have hit a major blind spot - because they really cannot pull their heads out of their ass.
Lets take the example of the taxi drivers - in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, which has a fixed population of over 2.0 million people.
They only have the pool of the 2.0 million resident population of KL plus maybe another 2.0 million of people who transit through KL everyday. The number of people hailing taxis is limited.
Now with business being so weak and the economy being so weak, the number of people hailing taxis may even be decreasing. The number of potential taxi passengers is decreasing. Times are bad.
Driving a cab is a poor man's job. An underclass job. Again the huge majority of taxi drivers in the Wilayah Persekutuan KL are Malays.
So the Malays are the cab drivers. They are already fighting for survival in a shrinking market. Then what happens? The Grab drivers pop up.
I have nothing against the Grab drivers. Or Uber which sold out to Grab in Malaysia. To me the more competition the better.
But for the struggling Malay taxi drivers, who are just learning to survive as taxi drivers in KL, Grab was a huge hit for them. The pool of passengers in KL remains the same. Now more cabs (taxis plus Grab) are going after the same pool of passengers. The Malay taxi drivers suffer the most. Melayu miskin dulu.
And in a shrinking economy, the number of potential passengers gets even less.
And now to make matters even worse Syed Saddiq has brought in Go-Jek from Indonesia.
(By the way that taxi association fellow has a point - why do you allow Go Jek from Indonesia to come here when our own Malaysian motorcycle taxi company was rejected last year? Can you explain please? Kera hutan disusukan anak sendiri mati kebuluran again.)
So both taxis and Grab are going after the same pool of passengers in KL.
Now the new kid on the block Go-Jek and motorcycle taxis will also go after the same pool of passengers in KL.
Everyone is going to put everyone else out of business.
And the Malay taxis / Grab / Go Jek are going to get hit the hardest.
Melayu miskin dulu.
You see this is NOT going to affect the Chinese as much.
Thanks to the racial discrimination there are very few Chinese taxi drivers anyway.
There are plenty Chinese Grab drives but it is an extra income earner for the Chinese who like to work hard.
For them Grab is just a bonus.
(Hello Mr W_ _. Mr W _ _ is a full fledge accountant, does corporate advisory in the daytime and drives Grab in the evenings.)
But as for real taxi drivers there are few Chinese.
There are some Indians but not as many as the Malays.
So all these Uber, then Grab and now Go-Jek motorcyle taxis will actually make the Malay cab driving community become even more poorer. All three are going after the same limited pool of passengers in KL and elsewhere.
Let me repeat - competition is good.
In most other countries, when there is too much competition in any one industry, the workers who get displaced or lose their jobs will move on. They will look for other work, get other jobs etc.
But not so the case with the Malays in Malaysia. Including the taxi drivers.
It is not that easy. They will become unemployed and they will ask for more subsidies and handouts. Or threaten others with 'Ini bumi bertuah orang Melayu' and things like that. It is desperation.
So I hope Syed Saddiq, Dr Mahathir and the Cabinet will understand this better.
Your decisions will have serious consequences on the country and the people.
I am not done yet. Here is another example. The Ibu Tunggal or Single Mothers. There are single mothers all over the world but in Malaysia it is a very huge problem among the Malays. Because of polygamy, immature Malay couples getting married too early in life, weak job skills (aka penganggur) etc marriages do not last. Almost always the guys split and you get another ibu tunggal.
To survive the Ibu Tunggal frequently end up selling nasi lemak and pisang goreng by the roadside. There is one really hardworking ibu tunggal near our home who sells nasi lemak by the roadside. She has her child with her from 7 am till after 11 am. The government has helped the ibu tunggal.
But the government also turns a blind eye to the Indonesians who are also selling pisang goreng and nasi lemak. And the Indonesians are not ibu tunggals. They are migrants who can work 24 hours in a day if it makes money. They are putting the ibu tunggal out of business.
This is just one example. Then the government scratches its head why despite all the help for the ibu tunggal, they keep coming back for more help. They simply cannot become self sustaining.
Well because you allowed the underclasses from Indonesia, now the Rohingyas and many others into the country where they are displacing the underclass jobs.
And face it - in Malaysia the underclass work is still heavily Malay populated.
A Go-Jek motorcyle taxi will not displace too many Chinese taxi drivers because there are few Chinese taxi drivers to begin with.
An Indonesian pisang goreng seller will not displace too many Indian pisang goreng sellers because I think there are no Indian pisang goreng sellers. Period.
So the jurang perbezaan ekonomi vis a vis the Chinese and the Indians will not be affected much. Or it may not be affected at all. They will remain at status quo or become wealthier.
But the Go-Jek, the Grab etc will certainly make Malay taxi drivers poorer.
The Indonesian pisang goreng sellers will certainly make the ibu tunggals poorer.
Because that is where the poorer Malay classes hang out.
You are just making the Malays poorer.
Melayu dimiskinkan dulu.
But anyway, this UN expert's comments that RM980 monthly income for a family of FOUR in an urban environment works out to RM8 per day per person certainly requires that we relook our poverty parameters.
There are few Orang Asli in the urban areas. There are some Chinese, some Indians but plenty Malays in this category especially in the urban areas.
Folks, despite the presence of economists and 'business experts' the government does not seem to understand either business or economics.
The situation is like this. There is still a large and now widening again economic disparity (jurang perbezaan ekonomi) among the Chinese, Indians, Malays, Dayaks, Dusuns, Kadazans etc. I dont think it is getting any better.
Here is the real disaster - whatever per capita income figure the government shows for the Malays / bumiputras etc you have to deduct a sizeable portion of it because they are government subsidies.
Without government intervention the Malay / bumiputra per capita income will be much, much less than the "official numbers" show. Maybe you can deduct 50% or more of the Malay / bumiputra per capita income as from government subsidies.
The Chinese and the Indians on the other hand have earned their income - to a very large extent - without much or very little government assistance. They have learned to become economically resilient and sustain themselves. It is called working hard. So there is a quality to their per capita income.
THIS IS A VERY VERY BIG DIFFERENCE. In fact this makes ALL the difference.
The Malays / bumiputras are at the bottom.
This is where the politicians and the government leaders have hit a major blind spot - because they really cannot pull their heads out of their ass.
Lets take the example of the taxi drivers - in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, which has a fixed population of over 2.0 million people.
They only have the pool of the 2.0 million resident population of KL plus maybe another 2.0 million of people who transit through KL everyday. The number of people hailing taxis is limited.
Now with business being so weak and the economy being so weak, the number of people hailing taxis may even be decreasing. The number of potential taxi passengers is decreasing. Times are bad.
Driving a cab is a poor man's job. An underclass job. Again the huge majority of taxi drivers in the Wilayah Persekutuan KL are Malays.
So the Malays are the cab drivers. They are already fighting for survival in a shrinking market. Then what happens? The Grab drivers pop up.
I have nothing against the Grab drivers. Or Uber which sold out to Grab in Malaysia. To me the more competition the better.
But for the struggling Malay taxi drivers, who are just learning to survive as taxi drivers in KL, Grab was a huge hit for them. The pool of passengers in KL remains the same. Now more cabs (taxis plus Grab) are going after the same pool of passengers. The Malay taxi drivers suffer the most. Melayu miskin dulu.
And in a shrinking economy, the number of potential passengers gets even less.
And now to make matters even worse Syed Saddiq has brought in Go-Jek from Indonesia.
(By the way that taxi association fellow has a point - why do you allow Go Jek from Indonesia to come here when our own Malaysian motorcycle taxi company was rejected last year? Can you explain please? Kera hutan disusukan anak sendiri mati kebuluran again.)
So both taxis and Grab are going after the same pool of passengers in KL.
Now the new kid on the block Go-Jek and motorcycle taxis will also go after the same pool of passengers in KL.
Everyone is going to put everyone else out of business.
And the Malay taxis / Grab / Go Jek are going to get hit the hardest.
Melayu miskin dulu.
You see this is NOT going to affect the Chinese as much.
Thanks to the racial discrimination there are very few Chinese taxi drivers anyway.
There are plenty Chinese Grab drives but it is an extra income earner for the Chinese who like to work hard.
For them Grab is just a bonus.
(Hello Mr W_ _. Mr W _ _ is a full fledge accountant, does corporate advisory in the daytime and drives Grab in the evenings.)
But as for real taxi drivers there are few Chinese.
There are some Indians but not as many as the Malays.
So all these Uber, then Grab and now Go-Jek motorcyle taxis will actually make the Malay cab driving community become even more poorer. All three are going after the same limited pool of passengers in KL and elsewhere.
Let me repeat - competition is good.
In most other countries, when there is too much competition in any one industry, the workers who get displaced or lose their jobs will move on. They will look for other work, get other jobs etc.
But not so the case with the Malays in Malaysia. Including the taxi drivers.
It is not that easy. They will become unemployed and they will ask for more subsidies and handouts. Or threaten others with 'Ini bumi bertuah orang Melayu' and things like that. It is desperation.
So I hope Syed Saddiq, Dr Mahathir and the Cabinet will understand this better.
Your decisions will have serious consequences on the country and the people.
I am not done yet. Here is another example. The Ibu Tunggal or Single Mothers. There are single mothers all over the world but in Malaysia it is a very huge problem among the Malays. Because of polygamy, immature Malay couples getting married too early in life, weak job skills (aka penganggur) etc marriages do not last. Almost always the guys split and you get another ibu tunggal.
To survive the Ibu Tunggal frequently end up selling nasi lemak and pisang goreng by the roadside. There is one really hardworking ibu tunggal near our home who sells nasi lemak by the roadside. She has her child with her from 7 am till after 11 am. The government has helped the ibu tunggal.
But the government also turns a blind eye to the Indonesians who are also selling pisang goreng and nasi lemak. And the Indonesians are not ibu tunggals. They are migrants who can work 24 hours in a day if it makes money. They are putting the ibu tunggal out of business.
This is just one example. Then the government scratches its head why despite all the help for the ibu tunggal, they keep coming back for more help. They simply cannot become self sustaining.
Well because you allowed the underclasses from Indonesia, now the Rohingyas and many others into the country where they are displacing the underclass jobs.
And face it - in Malaysia the underclass work is still heavily Malay populated.
A Go-Jek motorcyle taxi will not displace too many Chinese taxi drivers because there are few Chinese taxi drivers to begin with.
An Indonesian pisang goreng seller will not displace too many Indian pisang goreng sellers because I think there are no Indian pisang goreng sellers. Period.
So the jurang perbezaan ekonomi vis a vis the Chinese and the Indians will not be affected much. Or it may not be affected at all. They will remain at status quo or become wealthier.
But the Go-Jek, the Grab etc will certainly make Malay taxi drivers poorer.
The Indonesian pisang goreng sellers will certainly make the ibu tunggals poorer.
Because that is where the poorer Malay classes hang out.
You are just making the Malays poorer.
Melayu dimiskinkan dulu.
