More help needed to tackle Sabah poverty

KOTA KINABALU - “It is sad to see the levels of poverty amongst our fellow Malaysians in Sabah particularly the women and children.   The federal and Sabah governments need to give more focus to help the poor, women, single mothers  and children in Sabah overcome their poverty levels as well as providing and improving basic infrastructure and amenities” said YB Haniza Talha, acting Wanita Chief of Wanita PKR Sabah, after chairing the Sabah PKR Wanita meeting on Sunday.

YB. Haniza who is the PKR Assemblywoman for Taman Medan, Selangor, is also the Deputy Wanita Chief of PKR.  She was leading a women delegation to Sabah to better understand the poverty situation in Sabah and visiting flood victims in several areas that were flooded recently.

The federal government need to give priority to Sabahans or at least treat them as equal Malaysians.   It was wrong of the federal government not to provide Sabahans with the same flood aid that was given to West Malaysians.

To help the poor and needy, the federal government need to be fair and transparent in welfare aid.   Welfare aid should not be given based on BN membership or supporters or denied to other deserving cases because of race, religion or opposition sympathizers or because they are Sabahans and not West Malaysians.

“Every Malaysian that deserves welfare aid should be the aid regardless of affiliation” stressed Haniza.

While it is acknowledged that while the government has taken steps and provided welfare aid, the poverty levels are still extremely high especially in Sabah especially when the government is actively pursuing “high income” status.

The poverty levels in Sabah are at unacceptable levels.  Last year, the PM Department’s own EPU Report reported that Sabah had 53.5% of the abject poor households and 39.3% in the poor household category in the nation while Sarawak accounted for 11.4% and 11.7% respectively.

Both the federal and Sabah governments need to put more efforts to tackle poverty in Sabah and have more programs to assist the women, single mothers and children in Sabah and to be fair and transparent in their implementation to ensure every deserving Malaysian gets the necessary aid.