Poverty: More than meets the eye

Sad state: The living conditions among the poorest at the PPR flats in Taman Putra Damai Lembah Subang in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, are deplorable.

WHEN her elder brother suddenly died of a heart attack two weeks ago, Mariam (not her real name) from Puchong, Selangor, did not know what to do.

Having lived from hand to mouth, the nurse in her early 40s simply had no means to give her bachelor brother a decent burial as she only had several hundred ringgit in her savings.