Selfish politicians and Sabah’s poverty trap
Published on: Sunday, March 24, 2024
By: Datuk John Lo
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The majority of Sabahans are still being besieged by poverty, many are still below the poverty line 60 years after MA63. Eight out of 10 poorest districts in Malaysia are in Sabah. The Statistics Department’s Poverty Index 2022 report has categorised Pitas, Kudat, Kota Belud, Beluran, Tongod, Nabawan, Telupid, and Kota Marudu as among the country’s 10 poorest districts. This shameful fact alone should trigger off some stirrings of guilt in the conscience of politicians.
How can the YBs ignore this ugly truth and continue to indulge in political polemics at the expense of economic development? What sort of politicians do we have in Sabah? Are they shameless? Heartless?
Amazing that they can’t feel shame that the majority of Sabahans have been and are being greatly disadvantaged in education, economic opportunities, medical facilities, employment and almost every aspect of life?
What cannot be understood is that they have eyes that cannot see the poverty around them, their hearts are hardened to the sufferings and the economic indignity of Sabahans. Why can’t they recognise the existing poverty trap?
CAN SABAH ESCAPE THE POVERTY TRAP?
NO and YES. No if our political leaders refuse to change their mindset, continue their unproductive politicking, choose to remain oblivious, to shut their eyes to the sufferings of Sabahans. Yes, it can be done [not really difficult] if they can focus on economic development for the benefits of Sabahans. After all, Sabah still has a lot of resources.
Hajiji has led the way. All that is needed from them is to be sincere, honest and to unselfish themselves, give priority to the needs of the disadvantaged Sabahans.
In a nutshell, they need to be more ECONOMICLEADERS than POLITICAL LEADERS.
ILLUSTRATION OF SABAH’S VICIOUS CYCLE OF POVERTY TRAP.
I have downloaded the above diagram from Google which depicts Sabah’s economic dilemma quite correctly. I hope the politicians will take notice of this simple illustration and look into what is needed and, more importantly, what is expected of them, for Sabah to eradicate the poverty trap.
IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE SABAH’S POVERTY TRAP?
Seems impossible in the present context because most YBs ignore or not bother about Sabah’s single most serious economic problem i.e. poverty. Definitely not rocket science. Overcoming Sabah’s poverty trap is NOT IMPOSSILBE. Get these done and Sabah can be great again:
[a] No. 1 problem is insufficient sincere, honest leaders with economic leadership. Are there 5? 10? 15? 20? of the 79 YBs? The number is not pretty.
[b] To support Hajiji’s restructuring of the economy, Sabah needs more strong economic leaders who can command respect from and work with Federal Government to secure Sabah’s equitable share of economic development, revenue, budget allocation, effective representation in federal GLCs/GLICs and agencies.
Hugely important economically for Sabah’s industrialization is Tan Sri Anifah Aman’s recent speech in the Senate. How many YBs know or concern that Sabah can approve manufacturing proposal of only RM2.5m! Please read it to appreciate its relevance.
[c] Instil more good practices in the Civil Service to improve the delivery system so that implementation of policies and projects can reach Sabahans faster. Undertake a study to measure time required from formulation of policies, to final policy decisions, to the completion of implementation.
This study will find the process is frustratingly slow. There are many good officers. Identify and give them a chance to serve. Sabah must have elite officers to push and implement the Government’s agenda.
[d] Solve the extremely dangerous food sufficiency and food security related problems, then we can reduce the high incidence of poverty. [e] Inflation is very bad in Sabah as income is lagging behind its rise very badly. What used to cost 10 cents or 20 cents are now in dollars. Kopi O is now RM2.50. The humble fried mee cost can RM12 to RM15. Terrace houses in KK can cost RM800k to more than RM1m.
[f] Generating benefits from ECONOMIC VALUE CHAINS of major investments and creating awareness of these economic opportunities among Sabahans so that they can benefit.
[g] Badly managed GLCs must be sorted out with the greatest urgency. They are bleeding Sabah’s financial resources that should be used to eradicate poverty. Many GLCs have been and are still major direct contributors to poverty. [h] Last and most importantly, protect and enhance existing POLITICAL STABILITY WITHOUT WHICH, SABAH’S ECONOMIC FUTURE WILL BE BLEAK AND DISMAL. Political instability is fertile ground for breeding poverty.
OTHER FACTORS TO BE RESOLVED.
[a] Sabah must facilitate Sabahans to save and accumulate capital. Solve the capital shortage, poor access to banking facilities, inadequate credit facilities. Due to computerization, banks have centralized in KL, closed down/shrink branch operations.
Bank managers in Sabah have meaningless, inconsequential authority. To remedy this gap, Sabah must expedite reformation/transformation of our financial institutions. SDB is being revamped. Sabah Credit Corporation has “reach-out” programmes to support young Sabahans with their start-ups.
[b] Corruption is the biggest cause for poverty. [c] Lack of infrastructures, especially power and water. These are being resolved. [d] Healthcare and schools in the rural areas are atrocious and grossly under funded
CAN SABAH BREAK THE POVERTY TRAP? CAN SABAHANS HAVE BETTER LIVES? CAN OUR CHILDREN HAVE A PROMISING FUTURE? CAN SABAH’S ECONOMY DO BETTER?
Yes, to all these questions. Any Sabahan who has paid attention to Hajiji’s efforts to restructure Sabah’s economy would have noticed many things are moving in the right direction.
What is needed to expedite his economic reformation and transformation is for more political leaders to devote attention to economic development issues, how Sabah’s economy can do better, how Sabah can derive more benefits from Sabah/Federal relationship, how Sabah can get more revenue from major investments, how Sabahans can participate as “piggy ride” partners with big investors and how to assist Masidi on stopping massive financial leakages and sort out the forever bleeding GLCs.
Politicians can fight all they want but fight be on practical economic issues like freeing Sabahans from the poverty trap. These are healthy debates in a democracy.
What is bad and disappointing is very, very few of them ever touch on economic issues, giving the impression, rightly or wrongly, of their gross incompetency or lack of interest in issues that are truly important to Sabahans.
- The views expressed here are the views of the writer Datuk John Lo and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express.
- If you have something to share, write to us at: [email protected]
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