The Malaysian Insight

THE Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) has called on Putrajaya to address post-pandemic poverty.

At the  “Kemiskinan Rakyat Malaysia Pasca Pandemic Forum” today, economist Zouhair Rosli said there is an “economically dead” category of poor people, who made up 5% of the poorest communities in Malaysia, who have been overlooked. 

“In addition, up to 60% of the public also lack economic resilience in the event of a shocking event such as the sharp rise in the cost of living that is currently happening in our country now,” the senior team member at DM Analytics said. 

MTEM’s senior fellow Ahmad Yazid Othman said the organisation is also concerned over the poverty level among Malays and other Bumiputera. 

“We are worried that this disparity in poverty among Bumis and other races can increase criminal activity as well as threaten inter-racial relations,” he said.

To mitigate these issues, MTEM suggested that the government expand the distribution and increase the assistance of the Social Welfare Department. 

It also suggested the government employed technology and innovative thinking to boost the rural economy. 

“All this is feasible given the cost of implementing such efforts is only about 20% of the cost of oil subsidies, for example,” Yazid said.

“MTEM also suggests that structural measures be taken to effectively eradicate poverty and vulnerability of the B60 group, such as to improve employees’ salaries to a reasonable and dignified living income wage as well as improving the social protection system, including cash assistance .” – June 19, 2022.