PUTRAJAYA, January 20 – Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the latest number of households that are still categorized as extreme poor as a disgrace and a shame. According to him, as of July 2022, a total of 136,000 households are in that category. “It is disgraceful and embarrassing if we allow this group together with 308,000 households in the poor category when the leaders live luxuriously and continue to collect gratuities that are not their right,” he said.
He said, figures from the Department of Statistics also revealed that 20 percent of the M40 household group switched to the B40 group following the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO). “It is illegal for us political leaders and civil servants to practice corruption or waste while hundreds of people live in pain,” he said in the Prime Minister’s address: Building a Civilized Malaysia, here on Thursday.
Anwar insisted, the principle of ‘unbridled capitalism’ which was practiced in this country once upon a time saw the selected super rich dominating almost all fields. “It is as if we and the entire machinery do not have the ability to identify new companies or groups to be trained and promoted together so that opportunities are extended to them,” he said. He said, the lack of transparent control of political power and good governance in any unfair system causes the robbery of the people to continue.
“I still remember the discussion of political economy… Discussing the experience in history when the previous king or a group of pirates who came to rob the village certainly caused the pain of life because this tyranny is difficult. “Every minute of use of water and electricity for example will cause petty robbery to continue every minute, every month, every year,” he said. According to him, the liberation of the marginalized from the shackles of poverty needs to take into account efforts to free them from continuing to depend on aid and government contributions.
“We don’t want this country to be developed with minorities or the poor from various ethnic backgrounds including the people of Sabah and Sarawak who feel they are marginalized or sidelined,” he said. He said, the policy support of the Unity Government of Malaysia should guarantee support to capitalists so that they can carry out economic activities well without causing stress and misery to the people below. “This is not my new idea in the rise of Asia. “I mentioned, among other things, the fundamentals of a humane economy that must be understood in the current Madani context,” he said.
