Is Sarawak the poorest state or what?

By Simon Peter

KUCHING, Sept 24, 2014: Is Sarawak the poorest state or the third most developed state in Malaysia?

This is the question that Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian  was asking at a press conference here today.

Baru (2nd from right) with (from left) PKR Mas Gading branch chairman Boniface Tumek, Sarawak PKR vice chairman See Chee How and Lynette Tan at a press conference.

He asked the question after reading a statement by Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Fatimah Abdullah that Sarawak had the largest number of poor people in the country and a claim by the Governor Taib Mahmud that the state was the third most developed state in the country, after Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states of Selangor and Penang.

"On one hand, Sarawak has the largest number of poor people and on the other, it is considered as the third most developed state.

"So, my question is why the contradiction and confusion?" Baru, who is also the Ba'Kelalan State Assemblyman, asked.

He said there must be wrong somewhere with the statements made by the two.

"If indeed we are developed as stated, why are we having the most number of poor?" he asked.

"What kind of development do we have if the people are still poor? Are we talking about physical and infrastructural development, instead of enriching the ordinary people?," he posed.

According to Fatimah, Sarawak had taken over Sabah as the state with the largest number of poor people in Malaysia.

More than 100,000 people registered under the  e-Kasih programme to combat poverty so far this month.

 “A total of 102,549 people have since registered for the e-Kasih programme,” she said after chairing a meeting on the eradication of poverty here on Monday.

Fatimah said 26,335 of the total earned less than RM600 a month, putting them in the “absolutely poor” category, 31,441 earned RM920 or less and 9,633 earned RM1,500 or less.

She promised more mobile teams would be deployed to reach out to target groups to ensure that they get the aid they required.

“We will also determine the number of eligible people who are yet to register for the e-Kasih programme,” she said.

Fatimah said mobile teams managed to reach out to five hotspots last year and approved 676 of 2,072 applications for aid.

“For this year, we are reaching out to several other hotspots,” she added.

Taib, speaking at the opening of a new Sibu Islamic Complex, noted that Sarawak was once the third most poorest state in Malaysia, but it was the third most developed state.

He forecasted that Sarawak would be the most developed state by 2030.