Sabah's True poverty at 60%!
Given the higher cost of living nowadays, this figure should be
correct instead of the BN government's self imposed poverty figure.
No region can withstand outstanding robbery of its resources as had
happened in Sabah. Sabah had been robbed of hundreds of billions of RM
and yet given back only less than RM10 billion. This amount is not
enough to cover the costs of the damages done by the stripping of
Sabah's wealth.
The worst is to come with the building of the coal powered plant
while our hydroelectric and gas resources are exported out of Sabah at
great costs, RM2.5 billion for piping to Bintulu and RM10 billion for
underwater electric cables. Soon Maliau BAsin will be stripped bared
for its coal deposits.
Sabah poverty issue crippling BN
TUE, 27 APR 2010 11:40
BY FMT Staff
KOTA KINABALU: The federal government's E-Kasih system has identified
15,293 families in Sabah who are living below the RM540 a month
poverty level .
They were among 44,634 poor families nationwide, who had registered
with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry's E-Kasih
programme.
The families were from Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and
Johor.
Poverty in Sabah has become a politically crippling issue for the
Barisan Nasional government.
According to the the Sabah-based Common Interest Group Malaysia
(CigMa), about 1.8 million or 60% of the 3.25 million population in
Sabah live in poverty.
In five decades, Sabah, which was once the riches state in Malaysia,
is now the poorest.
Much of it has been attributed to the exponential population increase
and the "Malaysianisation" of illegal immigrants during former Prime
Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's reign.
While the BN-led state government claims that poverty levels have
progressively been reduced, private non-governmental organisations and
opposition leaders differ on the issue.
Serious issue
Yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat
Abdul Jalil, who admitted that poverty in Sabah was a matter of grave
concern, said the government had deployed the National Population and
Family Development Board Malaysia (LPPKN) officers to access the
hardcore poor and low income families.
"We've set aside RM6.9 million for the LPPKN programmes in six states
to help the poor.
"We will be looking at various issues. One is finance. We will have to
find out which segment they fall under -- the low-income group or
hardcore poor.
"Next, we want to know whether the head of the house is able to work
or if the family needs aid," she said.
She addded that LPPKN will also be identifying household members who
need training, job placements or if they are keen to do business.
"We will find out their needs before helping them," she said.
Shahrizat said it is a start to tackling a serious issue.
"We've been evolving our approach... since the 2008 general
election... I was shocked when I lost in Lembah Pantai.
"But it was a good lesson and since we are still governing the
country, it is a god-given opportunity to make amends and improve
ourselves and the public service delivery system," she said.
On allegations that her ministry was incompetent, she said: "We are
not a department. It's a big ministry... yes, sometimes we make
mistakes too, but we rectify them just as quickly."
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