The Malaysian Insight

THE fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic includes the rise of urban poverty, said a Selangor assemblyman, who singled out his constituency in Kota Anggerik, as an example.

Najwan Halimi told The Malaysian Insight although there is no hard research on the subject, anecdotal evidence shows this is happening in the urban centres of Selangor, the richest state in the country.

The PKR lawmaker said it is disheartening to see people who were “normal” before Covid-19 now lose their businesses, source of income and jobs.

“If you look at Shah Alam, you may see terrace, brick houses but they are actually poor. A terrace house could have 10 family members staying in with only one breadwinner.”

Najwan gave an example of a case in Section 9, Shah Alam, to drive home his point on the creeping urban poverty brought about by the pandemic.  

“It is where the elite live in Shah Alam, but there’s one family with nine family members, two in universities, three in secondary schools.

“They own only one laptop and it is broken. Whenever there are online classes, they have to borrow their parents’ phones. So, we gave them a new laptop,” he said.

Another resident in Setia Alam asked Najwan to accompany him to the bank to help negotiate and reschedule his car loan.

The bank had repossessed the car as the owner defaulted on the instalments.

“I told him I could not do that but I will help with what I can,” Najwan said.

Every Selangor assemblyman has an annual allocation of RM800,000.

“I have 52,000 voters in my area, so I really have to plan how to distribute my allocation, including for projects, such as building bus stands and roads.

“This year, many celebrations were cancelled and we channelled that money to food banks.

“To date, I have spent about RM120,000 for food banks where more than 4,000 families are benefiting from basic meals.”

Aside from assisting those affected economically, Najwan said his office is also helping families whose members were infected with Covid-19.

“When one is a confirmed Covid-19 case, the whole family have to be quarantined for 14 days. We sent help to a family living in a bungalow inherited from their late parents.

“The head of the family had to be sent to Sg Buloh hospital and the remaining 11 members of the family struggled. So, we sent food, nappies and arranged a medical team to help them do swab tests.”

The good thing is that when times are bad, the community is more united, said Najwan.

“The community is more responsive to their neighbours and there is greater empathy where people started living selflessly with the ‘kita jaga kita’ (we care for each other) attitude.

“I am getting closer to the people in my constituency. If they cannot visit the service centre, they will text me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

A majority requested for cash assistance and small favours. And the service centre tracks an average of 30 to 40 visitors on working days.

“At present, most enquiries are for back-to-school donations. Also, to apply on the RiDE (Roda Darul Ehsan) initiative by the state government to help youth entering the e-hailing business.” – December 24, 2020.