It was disclosed in Parliament today, that RM35 is spend per prisoner per day, and for food only RM7.98 per day (i.e. cost of food items only not including cooking services, etc..) - this is what I understood watching the proceedings on the net(see the Hansard of the day to get the actual words used.)
Now, using this figure for Malaysian individuals and householdManakala purata perbelanjaan untuk makanan bagi seorang penghuni pada setiap hari adalah sebanyak RM7.98 - Answer to MP Teresa Kok on 24/10/2013 (see below for the full question and the answer)
For a bachelor :- RM7.98 X 30 = RM239-40
For a husband and wife :- RM7.98 X 30 X 2 = RM478.80
For a household of husband, wife & 2 kids/dependents = RM7.98 X 30 X 4 = RM957.60
In Malaysia, the average household size is about 4....something, and what comes to light is that just for food it is already RM957.60, and if we were to add rental/housing loan, car/motorbike charges, clothings, television (ASTRO minimum is RM30 plus), electricity, water, sewage, telecommunication, savings, etc - this figure would be so much higher...
Hence, the current minimum wages of RM900 for Peninsular Malaysia (and RM800 for Sabah and Sarawak) is not even sufficient for food for a household of 4..
The poverty rate of Malaysia also falls below this figure... What is the poverty line income for a household in Malaysia? What is that income per household (which in Malaysia an household is 4.4 persons), below which the household would be considered 'poor' or 'hardcore poor'? The government of Malaysia does not disclose this figure, let alone how it is being calculated? How many households are in the category of poor and hardcore poor? This too is not disclosed.
The Minister of Human Resourses in 2010 disclosed that "....34% of 1.3
million workers in the study earn less than RM700. It could be more.
Our Government has determined the poverty line to RM720..."
"...The other reason is, according to our National Employment Returns 2009, 34% of 1.3 million workers in the study earn less than RM700. It could be more. Our Government has determined the poverty line to RM720, so we have by virtue of the wage mechanism itself, we are creating poverty in about 34% of people on the go, without doing anything else at all. So when the Government decided the poverty rate is RM720 and our wage mechanism by virtue implementation as we have, shows that 34-35% of below poverty line and that is something to do and to think about...." -
Now, the Minister was wrong when we look at available figures for 2009
In end of March 2013, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop disclosed that the ',,,,country's s overall poverty rate dropped to 1.7% in 2012, compared to 3.8% in 2009...'.Star, 28/3/2013, Big drop in poverty rate
How could this be? Unless the poverty line income, despite obvious increases in the cost of living, have been reduced unreasonably, for after all that is a 'smart' way to reduce po
Malaysia has a population of about 27 million - that means about 459,000 Malaysians(or more than 111,000 households) are poor. (But again, what is income per household used to come to this figure?
Now, Malaysian government revealed that many Malaysians are 'poor' and needed financial assistance from the government in the form of BRIM payments, and if we use the figures of those that need 'help' - it shows that about 21 million Malaysians fall within this category, i.e. they are 'poor'. Surely, the BRIM exercise was not a 'vote-buying' exercise before GE13, and must be taken as indicative of the state of poverty in Malaysia. [ See also 21
million poor Malaysians in need of government financial aid? Poverty
line income should be increased to RM3,000 in line with BR1M]
Now, if one household's income is RM1,000,000 and 6 other household income is RM1,000 and 3 is RM300, the average household income is RM100,690-00, and this is why average income will never give us the true picture of the state of 'wealth', income or poverty of individual Malaysians or Malaysian households.
Despite similar growth rates, urban household income grew at 6.6% per annum from RM4,705 a month in 2009 to RM5,742 in 2012 while rural household income went up at a rate of 6.4% a year from a monthly average of RM2,545 in 2009 to RM3,080 in 2012. - Star, 28/3/2013, Big drop in poverty rate
What came out in parliament, i.e. that we are spending almost RM8 per prisoner, and about RM35 overall per prisoner, which multiplied by 30 days would be that a Malaysian would need at least RM240 for just food, and on the whole would need RM1,050.
For an household of 4.4, it would be RM1,056 for food, or RM4,620 for overall expenses.
It is ODD that we are spending way above the Minimum Wage Income of RM900 per prisoner, noting that many workers in Malaysia still do not enjoy minimum wages yet - hopefully after the end of 2013.
Now, Malaysia hides statistics of crime - and many of us believe that there is an increase in petty crimes like purse-snatching, home break-ins, theft, incidence of telephone cable thefts (in the past 2 years, about 4 times in my kampung only), car break-ins, etc - all this indicative of the desperation and poverty in Malaysia. By the way, Malaysians crime figures were previously available of the police(PDRM) websites...now 'secret' and no more available. Why? We want to know the figures - not some vague 'crime index'...
My belief is that the state of poverty is bad - whilst there has been an increase in the income of the very very rich...
Do I believe this government? I must say 'NO' - Please be honest, so that we can all play our part to improve the situation of Malaysians and Malaysian household so that every person will be able to enjoy a good dignified life..
We are certainly spending too much per prisoner - and so we must try to reduce the number of prisoners. Remove mandatory prison sentences and introduce other forms of punishment like community services. Parole should also be made more easily available. There must also be 'counseling', that is followed up even after release. There must be 'skills training' and job placements for ex-prisoners, especially for those petty criminals (not gang related) who out of desperation for the survival of themselves and their families resorted to crime.
But more importantly, the reasons for committing crime needs to be eradicated, and the main reason, I believe, is poverty, and for this Malaysian government must INCREASE minimum wages (and give no exemptions), ensure REGULAR employment (i.e. employment until retirement age), introduce UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT to assist those who lost jobs and the unemployed, intervene to ensure that Financial Institutions allow the unemployed to delay monthly loan payments during their period of unemployment or 'temporary employment with lower wages', etc..
NO. SOALAN:4PEMBERITAHUAN PERTANYAAN BAGI JAWAB LISANDEWAN RAKYATPERTANYAAN : LISAN
DARIPADA : PUAN TERESA KOK SUH SIM [SEPUTEH]
TARIKH : � �24 OKTOBER 2013
RUJUKAN : 6190
SOALAN :
PUAN TERESA KOK SUH SIM [SEPUTEH] minta MENTERI DALAM NEGERI menyatakan jumlah banduan di setiap penjara di Malaysia sehingga 30 September 2013. Nyatakan perbelanjaan makanan bagi setiap banduan setiap hari dan jumlah kos perbelanjaan penjara di seluruh negara bagi tahun 2010, 2011, 2012 dan 2013.
JAWAPAN :
Tuan Yang di-Pertua,Izinkan saya untuk menjawab soalan daripada YB Seputeh bersekali dengan soalan daripada YB Bukit Gelugor pada hari ini memandangkan perkara yang dibangkitkan berkaitan isu yang sama.Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat dan Dewan Yang Mulia ini, statistik Jabatan Penjara pada 30 September 2013 menunjukkan jumlah penghuni di seluruh institusi penjara Malaysia adalah seramai 39,710 orang.Berasaskan peruntukan yang diluluskan untuk anggaran belanja mengurus bagi Jabatan Penjara pada setiap tahun mulai 2010 hingga 2012 secara purata sejumlah RM655.96 juta dibelanjakan untuk menguruskan seluruh penjara dan penghuni.Manakala purata perbelanjaan untuk makanan bagi seorang penghuni pada setiap hari adalah sebanyak RM7.98. - Blog Teresa Kok, Sassy MP
Published: Thursday March 28, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday April 24, 2013 MYT 2:08:19 PMBig drop in poverty rate
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia more than halved its poverty statistics over the past three years, with the number of poor people now standing at less than 110,000 nationwide, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
He said the country’s overall poverty rate dropped to 1.7% in 2012, compared to 3.8% in 2009.
“With this achievement, the target under the 10th Malaysia Plan to reduce overall poverty to 2% in 2015 has been achieved three years earlier.
“This is a result of rapid economic development and the effectiveness of poverty eradication programmes carried out by the Government,” he said at a press conference to announce the findings of the 2012 National Household Income Study here.
He said the fall in incidences of poverty happened in both urban and rural areas, with urban poverty falling to just 1% last year compared to 1.7% in 2009, while rural areas registered a significant drop from 8.4% in 2009 to just 3.4% in 2012.
Sabah registered the biggest reduction in poverty from 19.7% of the population in 2009 to 8.1% three years later.
The minister said all states registered a reduction in poverty rates, with marked improvements in Penang, Selangor, Malacca and the federal territories – all of which averaged 0% hardcore poor in their areas as at 2012.
“This is proof that the Federal Government’s initiatives to eradicate poverty have succeeded and been of benefit to the rakyat regardless of differences in political ideology,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysians enjoyed an annual increase of 7.2% to their average household income over the 2009-2012 period, or a nearly a RM1,000 hike in their average monthly income from RM4,025 in 2009 to RM5,000 in 2012.
Despite similar growth rates, urban household income grew at 6.6% per annum from RM4,705 a month in 2009 to RM5,742 in 2012 while rural household income went up at a rate of 6.4% a year from a monthly average of RM2,545 in 2009 to RM3,080 in 2012.
Despite this, he added that Malaysia still improved on wealth distribution, having secured a lower score of 0.431 on its “Gini coefficient” (a system to measure inequality in wealth distribution) in 2012, compared to 0.441 in 2009..Star, 28/3/2013, Big drop in poverty rate
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