Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Fatimah (centre) highlighting some points, as shown in this photo taken during press conference in Kuching in February this year.
WHEN it was announced that 13,798 out of the 33,917 households in Sarawak were no longer categorised as hardcore poor last year, there must have been a sigh of relief or even of achievement among the policymakers.
Each successive Sarawak government, since 1963, has pledged to eradicate poverty in the state.
Many studies and surveys on the subject have been undertaken and measures have been tried out to get into the problem.
The cumulative such measures of the past must have contributed to the process of poverty reduction, but no single measure could be regarded as the game-changer.
Relative poverty
The main objective of any government has always been the eradication of extreme poverty among the people in the state.
The aim remains the same today, but poverty now has another strain called ‘relative poverty’.
This exists as long as the income gap between the poor and the rich is not closed. So, we don’t talk about the eradication of poverty as such.
Our reporter, Lim How Pim (The Borneo Post – Feb 25, 2025), must have noticed the positive mood on the face of Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, the state Minister of Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, when the latter declared that: “We can see a significant drop in poverty in Sarawak,” – adding that “our state is doing its own poverty eradication which is still under study. “
Anyway, that’s the next target.
The uplifting of so many extremely poor people into the category of ‘just poor’ must be regarded as a success of sorts, thanks to the persistent efforts made by the government.
Fatimah’s ministry must be proud of being part of the team concerned.
The policy of creating jobs for those who are able to work is admirable.
At least, for many of those employed, there is a hope for the future.
Rapport among community leaders, government officials
I like the way YB Dato Sri Fatimah explained the importance of direct communication between community leaders and government officials.
Sharing of information among them in terms of the existence of extreme poverty within a particular community is mutually beneficial.
But this is often ignored by government officials, or even social researchers on the ground who make socio-economic surveys.
I have learnt that among several cultural groups in Sarawak, it is taboo to discuss poverty.
They do not attend a meeting to discuss it; they do not wish their condition mentioned in public.
It’s a kind of collective ‘malu’ (shame)’ – a cultural thing!
As a result, the report on poverty that is supposed to exist in that community is not known to the researchers.
I had the same experience myself when dealing with the people of Lemanak when I was planning and implementing an oil palm scheme in the 1970s.
‘Rapport is crucial’
A happy rapport between the local community leaders and the politicians is a must.
Accurate and factual information is absolutely necessary, if a properly drawn up government plan is to succeed.
Eradication of poverty
Don’t talk about the eradication of poverty – that’s impossible. It would be good enough if fewer Sarawakians are categorised as rock-bottom poor, but can be reclassified as ‘borderline poor’, working hard to ascend to ‘modest circumstances’.
Although the minister did not reveal the total number of the people reclassified, one can guess that there must be hundreds of them affected.
They are no longer extremely poor by definition only.
Those who wish to know the exact number of people so reclassified may ask for the statistics from the ministry itself.
I assume the ministry would oblige, if members of the State Legislature and the Federal Parliament ask for details of the programme.
They should study the strategy and the criteria employed by the ministry.
I like the strategy employed by the ministry, getting information on poverty in any community of people.
The community leaders can point out who among the community members require help in terms of employment; who is fit to work but tries to get welfare; and who genuinely needs assistance.
Not perfect, but it is something to improve upon as time goes on.
A long journey, but we will get there, unless there is serious political instability in this country – or worse, if there’s a war in this part of the world.
The minister stressed the importance of the role of the community leaders in reporting the existence of poverty in their community, acting as ‘the ears and the eyes’ of the government.
The minister can’t say this – she has to be ‘politically correct’ – but I’ll speak up: there should be more female community leaders in our happy state!
The ladies, in villages, longhouses and bazaars, have their own network and it has functioned informally for many a long year.
A female Penghulu would sense that one of her neighbours is desperately trying to hide the fact that since the husband disappeared, she finds it almost impossible to keep the children fed, clothed and at least minimally equipped for school.
It would be good if the number of extremely poor people in each district is made available to anyone interested in the subject.
It is a matter of being transparent.
There must be a few hundreds of them. Assuming that each Sarawak family consists of at least four members, there must be a few hundreds of the uplifted and reclassified as ‘just poor’.
That, at least, is some improvement.
* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist’s own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.
[ad_1]
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
[ad_2]
Comments are closed.