Anwar’s claim of a poverty-free KL, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan

February 20, 2024

KUALA LUMPUR – Just like China’s President Xi Jinping announced a poverty-free China back in 2021, Malaysia’s prime minister Anwar Ibrahim claimed that efforts to eradicate extreme poverty in Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan have been 100 percent successful.

Anwar made this claim based on undisclosed figures that the government’s poverty eradication program had been completely successful.

Such a statement made at the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia sounds very good, but can it stand up to scrutiny?

No figures have been disclosed and publicly accessible poverty figures have long time lags.

The most recent Kuala Lumpur City Hall figures (DPKL) indicate that there were 7,999 categorized as impoverished or in extreme poverty within the Kuala Lumpur region.

If there was any breakthrough in the fight against poverty, why hasn’t this been proudly reported?

Just a day ago, Melaka Menteri Besar Ab Rauf Yusof claimed Melaka had achieved zero hardcore poverty last year.

If this was the case, the state government was very slow in claiming any credit.

Last December Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Aminuddin Harun claimed all households had escaped the lowest bracket of poverty.

On face value, this is an amazing result. However, recent research data has shown the incidence of absolute poverty remains in the poorer states of Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan, and Kedah.

In addition, relative poverty has actually risen due to the harsh MCOs during the Covid-19 era.

According to the same study, there still remains an incidence of relative poverty across the country.

Relative poverty still exists even in the high-income states like Penang and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur.

Thus, even