Urban and Rural Poverty
Although the apparent focus of government policy has been on addressing poverty in rural communities, commentators have argued that due to urbanisation — the proportion of Malaysians living in urban areas increasing from 27% in 1970 to 62% in 2000 — the urban communities have been unfairly neglected.
The official figure for urban poverty is given as 2%; critics have argued that this significantly underestimates urban poverty, as the poverty line is set at RM500 per month for a family of four — a monthly income which has been argued as unrealistically low for a family of four to meet its needs. A survey of Kuala Lumpur has suggested that about a quarter of the population lives in squatter settlements, which commentators like Bakri Musa have argued is a more reasonable estimate of the poverty rate. However,as of December 2007, the squatter settlement has been totally eradicated in the state of Selangor.
Prior to urbanisation, urban poverty was largely a problem confined to the non-Malay communities, as they were significantly urbanised at the time of independence. However, as Malay villagers migrated to the cities, the proportion of Malay poor has likewise increased.
Read more about this topic: Poverty In Malaysia
Famous quotes containing the words urban, rural and/or poverty:
“Commercial jazz, soap opera, pulp fiction, comic strips, the movies set the images, mannerisms, standards, and aims of the urban masses. In one way or another, everyone is equal before these cultural machines; like technology itself, the mass media are nearly universal in their incidence and appeal. They are a kind of common denominator, a kind of scheme for pre-scheduled, mass emotions.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–62)
“Some bring a capon, some a rural cake,
Some nuts, some apples; some that think they make
The better cheeses bring ‘em, or else send
By their ripe daughters, whom they would commend
This way to husbands, and whose baskets bear
An emblem of themselves in plum or pear.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“This Administration has declared unconditional war on poverty and I have come here this morning to ask all of you to enlist as volunteers. Members of all parties are welcome to our tent. Members of all races ought to be there. Members of all religions should come and help us now to strike the hammer of truth against the anvil of public opinion again and again until the ears of this Nation are open, until the hearts of this Nation are touched, and until the conscience of America is awakened.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)