KUCHING: Economists are urging the state government to study and identify poverty levels based on location to ensure a more comprehensive and effective approach to addressing the issue.
Pro Vice Chancellor of I-CATS University College and economist Shazali Abu Mansor emphasised the need for specific data on impoverished areas and longhouses, as well as an understanding of the social situation of the affected communities.
“In order to do that, we require comprehensive data, such as the specific longhouses and areas, rather than random samples,” Shazali said.
“If you ask me, it’s not just about dividing the area by district or division. We need to go down to the kampung level, and determine how many people are living in poverty, how many have access to clean water and other essential information.”
Shazali explained that Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s push for a localised approach to tackle poverty could be more successful than the previous aggregate approach, as it allows for targeted strategies to be developed based on the specific needs of the poor in each area.
He added that accessibility to necessities, not just monetary assistance, is crucial to addressing poverty.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) economist Jerome Kueh agreed with Shazali that the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s current poverty index may not accurately reflect the situation in Sarawak.
“Issues such as data validity, sampling, and collection processes could lead to ambiguous outcomes,” said Kueh.
In 2022, the department reported that more than 97,000 households in Sarawak were living in poverty. Of these, 39,858 households were in the hardcore poor category, and 57,281 were considered poor.
The three districts with the highest poverty rates were Kuching, Simunjan, and Serian.
Kuching had the highest number of households living in poverty, with 2,631 considered hardcore poor and 4,866 poor. Simunjan had 2,417 hardcore poor and 2,529 poor, while Serian had 1,585 hardcore poor and 2,583 poor.
Instead he called for a more holistic study on poverty issues in the state and customisation of the current Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) method to include local elements and fine-tune the weightage of indicators.
“Each state in Malaysia has its own distinctiveness and the environment in Sarawak varies from the peninsula and Sabah. Therefore, drawing conclusions about the level of poverty based on a general framework might not be able to capture the true level of poverty in Sarawak,” Kueh said.
With specific information on the location and extent of poverty, the state government can develop targeted strategies to help those in need and allocate resources more effectively.
In response to questions about price fluctuations, Shazali proposed examining the composition of people’s income and their spending on food consistently, as these factors can affect the poverty line.
He said to his knowledge, no one has extensively used this method in Malaysia.
