Move aims to widen support for families struggling with rising living costs
SELANGOR is looking to adopt a “decent living standard” benchmark to measure financial hardship, instead of relying solely on the poverty line.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the proposed benchmark could have several tiers to reflect differences between localities within the state.
He said a new benchmark could subsequently be used to restructure financial aid, entrepreneurship support and other assistance programmes.
“One possible solution is to move away from looking only at the poverty line and instead adopt a decent living standard.
“We can then restructure our assistance and support, including entrepreneurship and other aid programmes,” he said during the Selangor 2027 Budget engagement session at Selangor International Trade Centre in Shah Alam.
Amirudin said Selangor had reduced hardcore poverty to below 1% while relative poverty had fallen to single digits under the First Selangor Plan.
However, he said those figures did not necessarily reflect the difficulties experienced by residents.
“In reality, on the ground and in many places, people feel they are no longer able to attain a dignified standard of living or are living in hardship.”
He said adopting a higher benchmark would be more demanding and could increase the state government’s financial commitments.
“It may not be good for the political narrative, but we have to be responsible because our task is to solve problems rather than seek short-term popularity.”
He said the approach could also be applied to assistance for Orang Asli communities, whose needs extended beyond income and employment to education and greater participation in the state’s development.
Among the measures being considered are tuition programmes for Orang Asli children and extending educational aid beyond those entering university.
Amirudin said Selangor was also approaching an ageing population as life expectancy increased and the birth rate remained low.
He said this placed greater pressure on working-age adults and it required the state to give particular attention to young children and senior citizens.
As most people in Selangor worked in the private sector, he said measures to ease their care- giving burden could not be confined to government departments or state-linked companies.
The state would instead need to develop a broader support system involving financial assistance, caregiver training and suitable infrastructure, he added.
Amirudin said the state wanted to ease the pressure on working adults caring for children and ageing family members.
The 2027 Budget engagement session included focus group discussions on social matters, well-being, human resources, poverty eradication, Orang Asli affairs, entrepreneurship, creative economy, agriculture and food security.
