Time to disrupt old narratives

ALARM bells are ringing yet again in Malaysia, this time with regards to the actual level of poverty in the country. On Aug 23, after completing an 11-day working visit in the country, Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, reported that Malaysia’s poverty level is far higher than official figures suggest.

According to Alston, the official poverty rate of 0.4% is unrealistic and obscures the troubling reality that many groups, such as the stateless, are systematically excluded from official poverty figures. He said lack of data transparency, including access to micro data, had resulted in systematic institutional failures, neglect and discrimination against vulnerable communities in Malaysia.