YOURSAY | ‘It’s an appalling indictment of Malaysian society that poverty exists at the level it does.’

MP SPEAKS | The Malay urban poor

MS: Thank you Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad for opening up this can of worms. However, what has crawled out are not facts based on irrefutable statistics but emotive anecdotes that appeal to those ruled by their hearts and not their heads.

What are the facts which politicians like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad deliberately choose to ignore?

Let me list just a few:

1. Urban poverty cuts across ethnic lines.

2. The urban poor has to struggle every day to put food on the table (a more exhausting struggle than the one supposedly waged by crooked and immensely wealthy Malay politicians for "race and religion").

3. The urban poor (often clustered in ethnic ghettos) are used as ready vote banks by scheming politicians who view poverty almost always from an ethnic standpoint.

4. The urban poor are deliberately not discouraged from having large families by the same conniving politicians.

5. The lot of the urban poor seldom improves, unlike the wealth of the politicians who champion their cause.

6. The rural-urban drift was actively encouraged by myopic extremist politicians who could not stand to see "others owning towns". The "Rural Development" Ministry, a federal ministry since independence, clearly did not cause a reversal or discourage rural-urban migration by creating economic opportunities in situ.

7. The same ethnically-motivated politicians who neglected urban squalor also encouraged the influx of foreigners into the same ghettos - and looked the other way as the new migrants took over low paying jobs, services and now, even retail.

David Dass: An interesting article by Nik Nazmi. Indeed, we must move from the anecdotal to the statistical. The anecdotal wrenches at our heartstrings but the statistical will give us the facts that we need to formulate policy and action that is required to deal with the problem.

After 60 years of Independence with Malay leaders at the helm, and after 50 years of the New Economic Policy (NEP) with dominant Malay leadership and almost exclusively Malay civil servants in charge of everything, and with billions of ringgit spent on all sorts of schemes and subsidies funds and projects, why are there so many Malay poor?

Indians were displaced from the estates and from the civil service and without any help from anyone, became marginalised. Gangs replaced family and community. Race became the basis for preference, opportunity and employment. The Chinese survived because of their dominant position in the commercial sector. Many left the country.

An honest survey must be conducted to determine accurately what is the position of poverty in Malaysia. And an objective analysis must be conducted to discover why past policies and actions have failed.

It is ridiculous to blame the Chinese for the problem of Malay poverty or to punish them for being industrious and enterprising. It is even more absurd to ignore the plight of poor people of all races - including the Orang Asli and the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak.

The Analyser: Sorry, David. When did you ever witness a Malaysian government decision that was based on fact?

Perception, maybe. Beliefs, often. Opinions, frequently. Corruption, too often.

Any quick assessment of the quality of or even the existence of facts would explain why that is the case. In Malaysia, if you don’t know the facts, or if the facts have been manipulated, then you don’t need to worry about the problem.

It’s a syndrome common among Malaysian politicians. It’s called burying your head in the sand, and it exists despite race.

The poor are poor wherever they exist. The question to be addressed is why are they poor?

The answer to that question is the same wherever poverty occurs. And the fault is not necessarily with the poor themselves. So that inevitably programmes to address poverty are ineffectual because society has not changed.

As a society, Malaysia readily embraces poverty, because poverty fosters dependence on people who love to control and repress. Poverty also allows the non-poor to feel superior and gives them “the right” to exploit the needy.

It’s an appalling indictment of Malaysian society that poverty exists at the level it does in what on the surface appears to be an affluent society.

By the way, Nik Nazmi, don’t blame the failure of the education system on the inability of parents to be stand-in teachers. Many successful and well-educated persons were born of illiterate parents.

Shovelnose: Nik Nazmi, this is a hidden side not to be ignored but which has been paid lip service over the years. While politicians were busy politicking, backstabbing and whatnot, nothing in the way of policy or direction has the nation attempted to address this problem.

It was left to non-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide basic necessities to the homeless and those in severe need of assistance.

The only preoccupation of the super-rich is to further entrench themselves in the system for purely selfish intents. The intent was to keep the less well-off segment of society under constant stress as it is easier to control the poor when they are wholly preoccupied just keeping their heads above water.

I don't expect any political party in Malaysia to do anything to champion the plight of these people nor attempt to change the cause of their lives. Hindraf as an NGO might come close in the past, but the politicians culled it when its support became dangerously close to usurping their limelight.

The Wakandan: Urban migration is a global phenomenon, not just in Malaysia or by Malays.

Studies indicate that the 10 most populous cities in the world by 2050 will be found in Asia, Africa and Latin America, consigning the top cities of today down the populous scale.

In Europe, the US and Japan, urbanisation was completed earlier while the third world countries are now playing catch-up. There will be bound to be urban poor and shantytowns.

Rural living is good but you won't make much money there unless you are rich farmers, which is not done in Malaysia and perhaps never will be.

The Malaysian government should look at the bigger picture and implement need-based rather than race-based policies to develop the nation.

The old methods of the 70s need to change, otherwise we would be stuck there and unable to move on with Korea, Taiwan or Indonesia.

RedCheetah0747: Why are these people working so hard and still live in poverty? The fact is for the last 40 year at least, the government of this country squandered away its resources. If our country has been managed better, we would be on par with South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Our country’s policies are implemented by people who did not earn their positions through merit, who do not have the requisite know-how and are not made with the national interest at its core but based on personal interest.

We are heading to the bottom of the heap and any new efforts merely halt the slide, and we have not climbed up. Until the foundation is strengthened, all efforts are mere window dressing. The stink inside will eventually find its way out.

IndigoJaguar7545: I think this story can really be rewritten as "The poor Malaysians of every single ethnic group".

These stories are depressingly common throughout every city, suburban area, and kampung in Malaysia.

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