KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has been urged to relook at its poverty eradication programmes for more effective results.
Parti Warisan claimed that latest statistics showed a minimal drop in poverty levels in some of the poorest districts, adding that the absolute poverty rate continues to remain high due the lack of innovative measures by the state.
Warisan Youth information chief Khairuddin Daud questioned the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-led state government, which has been administering the state for three years, on its commitment to reduce absolute poverty.
Khairuddin said the 2022 Malaysia Poverty Report published in July 2023 showed slight improvement in eradicating poverty in the Tongod, Pitas and Kota Marudu districts.
He said the report stated that the absolute poverty rate in Tongod was at 50.8% in 2022 compared to 56.6% in 2019.
Pitas' poverty rate was recorded at 52.7% for 2022 compared to 53.6 % in 2019; and Kota Marudu recorded 49.9% in 2022) compared to 46.1% in 2019.
Khairuddin said the Federal Government, under three different prime ministers, had provided substantial financial support to Sabah for poverty eradication over the last three years.
He said the GRS government had also increased revenue through various taxes – including on petroleum – but absolute poverty continues to haunt the state.
He claimed that there was a lack of effective planning to deal with the incidence of poverty in Sabah.
"There are no new ideas to improve the economic status of Sabahans to enable them to surpass the state's Poverty Line Income (that has been set at RM2,706 (urban) and RM2,795 (rural)," Khairuddin said in a statement Monday (Aug 28)..
He claimed that the state government depended on old-style methods to alleviate poverty such as the Mini Estate Sejahtera (MESEJ) programme that was conceived in 2004.
"It is one of the main reasons why absolute poverty incidence in Tongod, Pitas and Kota Marudu remains high," he said.
"20 years have passed by with no agenda to improve, enhance and innovate its function and importance.
He said the programme does not provide opportunities for economic mobility or spillover to participants and local residents to cross the poverty income line.
"This causes participants to lose motivation, especially in rubber plantation programs, while youths have not shown interest at all and are more inclined to migrate to cities or towns to get a job," he said.
"If these MESEJ programmes still use the old format, Warisan believes that these districts will not register a significant decrease in the absolute poverty rate especially with today's low price of rubber," he added.
