Leaders chip in on ways to eradicate poverty

Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, RAHIMY RAHIM and TARRENCE TAN

IT is undeniable that financial leakages are reported in the National Audit every year, where among the most problematic government projects is the low-cost people’s housing project (PPR), says Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“The problem isn’t allocation or policies, but the issue lies on the weakness in choosing contractors. As usual, it is awarded to chosen contractors and that is why it is unorganised.

“Building houses for the impoverished also have cheating elements and this is not even about food yet,” said Anwar (PH-Port Dickson) during his speech on the Royal Address in Parliament yesterday.

PPR projects are often plagued with unsatisfactory construction quality and neglected maintenance, he added.

Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) interjected to say that perhaps to break the vicious cycle of poverty, the government could consider providing education to the children of impoverished families.

“This will allow them vertical mobility and it eradicates poverty within a generation. Many of us here are poor, but we succeeded due to education,” Ahmad said.

Anwar said he agreed with Ahmad’s suggestion as vertical mobility out of poverty is usually triggered by education opportunities.Anwar also said the government of the day has to take a different approach in addressing poverty in the country. He pointed out that the previous governments since the formation of Malaysia, including Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan, have all addressed poverty to some extent.

“But this issue is still haunting us. We must remember that the same approach cannot be continued whether it’s the Pakatan or Barisan Nasional government,” said the PKR president.

Meanwhile, Ngeh Koo Ham (PH-Beruas) said that communities should be evaluated based on their financial status rather than their race, saying there was a perception that the Chinese are rich while the Malays and Indians are poor.

He said it was not right to label the Chinese as the richest community in the country.

“For the Chinese, the Malays are the richest because of land banks,” he said.

Ngeh also pointed out that poverty was so significant among the older generation of Chinese communities that they had to give up their children to be adopted by other families.

At the same time, William Leong (PH-Selayang) said that the perception of Chinese being greedy and Malays as lazy was probably caused by colonial stereotyping.

Anwar, in response, said the dismissal that all indigenous people are lazy was merely a colonial perception. He said that all segments of society must be more matured over the issue.