PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Aug 29 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The United Nations (UN) report on the rate of poverty in Malaysia, although being questioned, can still be used as a yardstick to help the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in formulating new programmes to bring the poor people out of poverty.
Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the report should be viewed positively because if the UN’s claim that Malaysia’s poverty rate was higher, the ministry must double up its efforts to ensure that a more solid and effective approach is taken to help the poor.
“However, if the rate was indeed lower, it will be good as we don’t have to allocate a lot of money for this group,” she told a press conference here Wednesday.
The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, was reported as saying that the official figure on poverty in the country was vastly inaccurate and do not reflect realities on the ground. He claimed that the actual rate of poverty in Malaysia was 15 per cent.
Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, however, said Malaysia stands by its absolute poverty rate of 0.4 per cent in 2016 as it was derived from internationally-accepted standards based on the Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second Edition (2011), which is published by the UN.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government will study the claim made by Alston to find out whether it was true or not.
— NNN-BERNAMA