Sabah: Over 40% of Malaysia's poor in Sabah, says global report

[pywong]

I am a bit curious about the figures quoted. The first question is: What is the poverty level? RM 750 or the European standard of 50% of GDP per capita, which is RM 2,000?

If based on European standard, the poverty level is shown in the chart below. Mathematically, the poor in Sabah cannot constitute 40% of the poor in Malaysia. The Malays alone constitute 58% of the poor. Obviously, UMNO has failed miserably. And they claim to be the protectors of the Malays. Look across the causeway where the Malays are supposed to be oppressed. Soon the GDP of Singapore is going to surpass that of Malaysia.

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp242/tindakmalaysia/politics/povertylevelforeastmalaysiar1111110.jpg

Over 40% of Malaysia's poor in Sabah, says global report

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:12

By Michael Kaung

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia's widening network of poverty stricken people are centered in Sabah, according to the latest World Bank Report (WBR).

Noting that Sabah remains the poorest state in the country, the WBR's 2010 Malaysia Economic Monitor (MEM) Report showed that Sabahans continue to struggle, with higher incidences of poverty in outskirts of towns.

"(There are) deep pockets of poverty here in Sabah," said the bank's East Asia and Pacific Region Human Development Sector director Emmmanuel Jimenez who was in the state capital to present the report on Wednesday.

"Sabah has about 10% of the Malaysian population but more than 40% of all poor people in Malaysia live in Sabah," he said.

He said that if one compared this figure to that of Selangor, which has about 25% of the population, the percentage of poor people was less than 10%.

"Whatever poor people remaining in Malaysia, many of them are here in Sabah and most of them live in the rural areas … groups such as the

Rungus, Suluk and Orang Sungai.

"According to the statistics they (Rungus, Suluk and Orang Sungai) remain very high (in the poverty bracket)," he said.

He said the country's Vision 2020 goal of achieving a high-income status would require a higher growth rate than what has been achieved so far.

It would also, he said, require the country to ensure that the benefits are shared by all strata of society.

The lack of social indicators as well as disparity between urban and rural folk, he said, were two aspects of inequality that the bank had identified.

"I would imagine that once you move away from the coastal areas to the interior, the poverty rates remain very high.

"Just from our own experience coming from the airport to the hotel, you don't see poverty but the statistics say there's a lot and there are huge disparities."

Poor salaries

He also pointed out that Malaysia's vision of a prosperous country through productivity could be affected because workers are paid poor salaries.

"Those who are working maybe poor not because they are not working (hard) but working in low-paying jobs. So the question is how to increase productivity?" he asked.

Philip Schellekens, the bank's senior economist for the region and lead author of the report, however said that Malaysia had recorded tremendous successes in poverty reduction in the past four years.

On the state's economic performance, he said that Sabah had been insulated from global developments and had not been exposed to the volatility observed in the manufacturing sector.

The MEM report suggested a three-pronged approach to meeting the country's aspirations:

Raising economy-wide opportunities by strengthening the investment climate and revitalising the labour markets;
Promoting investment in human capital by strengthening education and vocational skills training;
Providing well-targeted social protection to help those who cannot help themselves FreeMalaysiaToday.... (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/sabah-and-sarawak/12745-over-40-of-malaysias-poor-in-sabah-says-global-report)

[pywong]

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out. If you double the population with penniless immigrants, you divide the per capita income by 2. Even if these people work very hard, the number of jobs available cannot sustain a doubling of the work-force. So you end up with clerks working for RM 400 a month.

World Bank confirms Sabah is Malaysia's poorest state

Joe Fernandez
Thursday, 11 November 2010 17:00

http://www.malaysianmirror.com/images/stories/FrontImages2/sabah.jpg

NEWS FOCUS KOTA KINABALU - The World Bank (WB) in Washington has confirmed through a new study that Sabah is not only the poorest state in Malaysia but it’s likely to stay that way for a considerable length of time given current efforts in poverty eradication.

The bottomline was that Malaysia’s economic planning in Sabah so far has not been for inclusive growth.

The study contained in the World Bank’s 2010 Malaysia Economic Monitor (MEM), the third in its series, was handed over last night to the state government by WB representative Emmanuel Jimenez, also Human Development Sector Director (East Asia and Pacific Region).

“Although efforts by the Government have somewhat brought down the poverty rate, it’s still not enough,” said Jimenez. “The MEM shows that Sabahans continue to struggle to make ends meet. This is more evident in the outskirts of the towns.”

Sabah is far behind other states

According to Jimenez, the deep levels of poverty in Sabah could be seen from the fact that although the state has only 10 per cent of Malaysia’s population, it has 40 per cent of the poverty. In contrast, Selangor which has nearly a quarter of the country’s population has less than 10 per cent of the poor.

The WB has also identified that most of the poor can be found in the rural areas mainly among the Rungus in the north and Orang Sungai in the east, both Kadazandusun groups; and the Suluks in the east who are a Muslim group from the Philippines from the days of the Sulu Sultanate. There are also poor among all other communities including in the urban areas among the Chinese.

Nasrun, in his comments, praised the WB for accurately identifying poverty and regional disparity as the main critical issues concerning Sabah. He disclosed that the MEM was put together with input from Sabah which was visited by a WB team several months ago.

“We are fortunate to have access to the WB’s vast expertise in addressing issues of poverty, regional disparity and inclusive growth,” said Nasrun. “They can advise us in taking a holistic approach towards addressing these challenges.”

He lamented that if compared with the states in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah is very much far behind in both hard and soft infrastructure.

A fact to be accepted with an "open heart" for change

Some of the areas of deep concern, he added, were health, education, social facilities and services and human resource development. “Deep pockets of poverty exist in certain socio-economic groups as well as in certain areas of the state where the poor have the least access to services and employment opportunities.”

On a brighter note, Nasrun hopes that the principle of inclusiveness as spelt out in the New Economic Model will bring relief to Sabah. He particularly cited the National Economic Transformation Programme (NETP) and the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) which had pledged improvements in the supply of water and electricity and rural roads, among others.

Ranau MP Siringan Gubat wasn’t surprised that Sabah has been listed as the poorest state. It should be accepted with “an open heart although it’s bitter pill to swallow”, he admitted.

He feels that the federal government should in turn “open its eyes” and accept the fact that it needs to change according to what the people want.

“At present, the federal government is merely using Sabah as an economic resource,” said Gubat who is also United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko) vice president.

“If the federal government goes in the same direction as the state government, there’s no reason why Sabah cannot progress and prosper.”

Vast amount of resources, but still poorest

Besides considerable oil and gas reserves, Sabah also has vast areas under timber, oil palm, rubber, cocoa and other commodities. He wants to know where these commodities are sent to and who actually benefits from them ‘since it doesn’t seem to be the people”.

Kota Kinabalu-based social activist, human rights lawyer and newspaper columnist Nilakrisna Isnarti James commented that Sabah’s current status was the very fear that drove her grandfather and famed Kadazan nationalist O.K.K. Sedomon Gunsanad (1894-1996) of Keningau to oppose the idea of the state agreeing to help form the new federation of Malaysia. James Ongkili recorded this fact in his book on the formation of Malaysia, she added.

“If Malaysia was formed in equality and partnership between Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, why is that we are the poorest after almost 50 years? she asked rhetorically. “On top of that we are being increasingly disenfranchised and may end as internally displaced persons or refugees in our own land.”

She called upon the federal government to demonstrate sincerity and pledge itself towards greater equity in dealing with the rich resources of Sabah and addressing the welfare and concerns of the people.

“The WB report confirms what we have been saying all along,” said Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMA) deputy chair Daniel John Jambun. “The poverty rate in Sabah and Sarawak is not as low as that made out to be by the federal government. The evidence is all around us.”

He intends to propose that CigMA, an ad hoc apolitical movement, call for a workshop soon to debate the WB report in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. MalaysianMirror.... (http://www.malaysianmirror.com/media-buzz-detail/138-sabah/50474-world-bank-confirms-sabah-is-malaysias-poorest-state)