By Karen Bong, Ling Hui and Cornelius Kadir Edison
KUCHING, April 1: With extreme poverty on the rise due to the Covid-19 pandemic, speedier actions are needed to tackle this “new yet old” issue so as to lift people in Malaysia, including Sarawak, out from this vicious cycle.
Highlighting this, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin pointed out that the government needs to address this issue speedily with firm and affirmative programmes and strategies in order to assist those who have been badly affected by the pandemic to break the poverty cycle and live normal lives.
“The government is also looking seriously into efforts to eradicate poverty to ensure more inclusive development in Sarawak as well as other states.
“For instance, the Sarawak Bumiputera Special Programme which includes the Native Customary cluster and New Economic Development is being implemented under the First Rolling Plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan (RP1 12MP) for 2021 with an aim to improve the socio-economic level of the Sarawak Bumiputera,” he said.
Muhyiddin emphasised this during the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 Townhall Session held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
He noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted a major part of society especially those in the lower income B40 group as well as the middle income M40 group and even part of the top earning T20 group.
“People are pushed into the hardcore poverty bracket and they are really in a bad shape. So how do we help them apart from the digital economy?
“Many of our people cannot lead their lives as usual. Their lives have come to a halt when business activities cannot continue while there are those who did not have sufficient income,” he added.
So for the first time in the history of Malaysia, Muhyiddin explained, the government allocated such a huge fund of about RM600 billion for the national budget as well as for incentives under the Prihatin and Penjana packages to sustain and steer the country forward.
“Poverty is supposed to be an old problem but is coming back to the fore. As such, the way that we manage things will not be the same anymore.
“This is the biggest challenge that we have as I sit as the chair of the Poverty Eradication Committee. I will look at this closely, what we can do to effectively tackle this new yet old poverty problem,” he added.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and State Cabinet leaders were also present at the session. — DayakDaily
