PETALING JAYA: After being accused of making false claims on social media, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has clapped back, saying that figures from the Statistics Department show a sharp rise in income inequality during the Pakatan Harapan administration.
"I don't do false claims or fake news. The World Bank may only have records until 2015 but our Statistics Department has been recording this for decades," said Najib in a Facebook post on Tuesday (May 31).
Najib then attached a graph by the Statistics Department that showed Malaysia's Gini coefficient recording a rise from 39.9 in 2016 to 40.7 in 2019.
The Gini coefficient or index is a measure of income distribution across a population. A higher Gini index indicates greater inequality, with high-income individuals earning a much larger percentage of the total income of the population.
"As you can see, the Gini coefficient for Malaysia experienced its sharpest drop during my time as PM – dropping from 44.1 to 39.9," added Najib.
Najib said during his tenure as premier in 2009 and 2018, B40 and M40 households experienced higher growth each year compared to the T20 group.
"Because of policies like the introduction and yearly expansion of the BR1M programme, jobs and small business creation programmes such as 1Azam and the introduction of GST, which taxes the rich more as they spend much more on non-exempt items.
"That is why income equality (sharing of the cake) improved at its fastest pace in Malaysia – lifting millions of Malaysians out of hardcore poverty," he said.
However, Najib said income inequality went up in 2019 because many of his policies were reversed by the Pakatan government.
Najib was responding to a tweet that he had made a false claim about income inequality widening during Pakatan's time in Putrajaya.
Najib also attached a July 10, 2020, news on figures by the Statistics Department that showed income inequality in Malaysia going up in 2019.
