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 though absolute poverty has been claimed to be eradicated, this doesn’t mean there aren’t thousands of families living finding it extremely difficult to make financial ends meet in an economy, where wages aren’t growing, and inflation is eating heavily into consumption.

UNICEF reported that 5.5 percent or 405,000 were in absolute poverty prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic this rose to 639,800 or 78,000 households.

Anwar’s announcement at the Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry was referring to only around 8,000 households.

Is there a mismatch of figures and observations?

Back in 2016, it was estimated that there were around 1,500 homeless people in Kuala Lumpur.

The ranks of homeless have risen where people can be observed camped out and sleeping around Chow Kit, Pudu, Medan Tuanku, Masjid Jamek, Bukit Bintang, Bangsar, Petaling Street, Masjid India, LRT and MRT platforms.

This indicates some cognitive dissonance in what is being said and what can be observed.

Only the start

Anwar’s announcement may be a good start, but one must be careful to talk too early, in fear that words may come back to haunt during election times.

There are still many groups of Orang Asli in desperate financial plight. Many single mother households are suffering, while elderly non-Malays without children to financially assist are very vulnerable.

Families staying in Malaysia without any documentation are also susceptible to poverty. Most of all, there are rural families in Sabah and Sarawak still in absolute poverty. Some still don’t have electricity or water.

Unfortunately, the politics of religious conversion has played a role in the poverty eradication of Orang Asli, Orang Ulu and other indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak.

This must be resolved if poverty is going to be eradicated from these cohorts.

Dark clouds on the horizon

The biggest concern is the direction the Malaysian economy is heading.

The latest Bank Negara Malaysia Report for the 4th Quarter 2023 stated the Malaysian economy grew by 3 percent in the 4th quarter of 2023.

Exports are suffering from weak external demand, while imports are rising, with a weaker ringgit, causing inflation.

This means manufacturing is down, which is a major source of jobs.

With a weakening world economy, there is risk Malaysia could suffer a “hard landing,” meaning there will be more pressure on poverty figures once again.

This is not the time for the government to rest on its laurels.

Economic forecasts and plans may have to be revised for the rest of 2024, if the government wishes to continue the fight against poverty.

(Murray Hunter is an independent researcher and former professor with the Prince of Songkla University and Universiti Malaysia Perlis.