May 13, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR – Several times a month, Ms Izzaty Nabella Lau is unable to put enough food on the table for her three children, let alone send her eldest daughter to primary school, due to the rising cost of living in Malaysia.
“After my ex-husband left us, we have nothing. I need to stay home to look after the kids,” said the 24-year-old, who lives in a low-cost flat known by its Malay acronym, PPR.
The couple divorced in 2023.
“My family is surviving through whatever my father and my two younger brothers can spare for us,” she told The Straits Times. She also has to support an older brother who cannot work because of severe gout.
Ms Lau lives in a three-bedroom, 645 sq ft flat, in a household of seven at Pantai Ria PPR housing estate in Kuala Lumpur. The flat belongs to her father, and they have been living there since 2007.
A United Nations report on Malaysia’s low-income households found that eight in 10 families living in PPR flats in the capital city struggle to generate adequate income to meet their basic needs.
The May 8 report released by the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) polled 755 households across 16 PPR estates in KL from Oct 14 to Nov 16, 2023.
The “Living on the Edge” report also found that 90 per cent of these families are grappling with the impact of the soaring cost of living, especially food prices.
In comparison, Unicef’s “Families on the Edge” report published in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic found that seven out of 10 households in the same category, living in KL, faced these difficulties.
Two in 10 respondents cited time constraints and the affordability of fast food as obstacles to providing their children with nutritious meals.
The latest report said: “Dietary habits have undergone notable changes, characterised by increased consumption of eggs, rice and instant noodles.
“Approximately seven in 10 households now report spending more on eggs – the most affordable protein source – compared with 52 per cent during the pandemic.
“Similarly, seven in 10 households also indicated increased spending on rice, compared with the four in 10 during the same period.”
The Unicef study was conducted among the poor in KL to show that if they are coping badly, poor people in other states are facing worse conditions, said Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid, managing director for research at consultancy firm DM Analytics, which conducted the study with Unicef.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia reported in January that households in KL have the highest median monthly wage at RM3,800 (S$1,086). By contrast, those living in the poorest states such as Kelantan, Perlis and Sabah have median monthly wages of between RM1,600 and RM1,800.
“To cope with the escalating expenses, families work harder, cut back on spending, and even reduce their food intake,” Dr Muhammed told ST. “Their children, who are already facing health challenges, are also eating less, with one out of two eating fewer than three meals per day.”
Housewife Nurul Huda Hidayah, 27, whose family also lives in the Pantai Ria PPR block of flats, said life was definitely easier before the Covid-19 pandemic and during the pandemic itself.
The mother of three said they received a lot more government assistance when Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin were prime ministers, and that groceries did not cost as much as today.
“When Najib was PM, with RM50, I could buy two whole chickens, a packet of rice, vegetables, sugar and other food items. Now, a packet of rice costs RM25, a kilo of chicken costs RM10.”
Ms Nurul added: “This RM50 used to last us a few days, but now, it won’t last us a day. I wish he was back as prime minister.”
In 2018, the Najib administration selected seven million low-income citizens who would receive RM400 in three payments in their bank accounts over the course of the year.
His Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia cash payout scheme was very popular, as were the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia scheme that offered cheaper groceries, and health assistance from Klinik 1Malaysia.
Mr Muhyiddin, who was premier when Covid-19 struck Malaysia around March 2020, had allocated RM4.6 billion under the Special Covid-19 Assistance scheme, benefiting 11 million people.
The current Anwar Ibrahim administration set up the Rahmah welfare programme from January 2023, granting households earning less than RM2,000 an annual assistance of RM3,700. The government has so far dished out RM2.27 billion.
But Ms Lau said she has not received any aid under the scheme as she lost her identity card and does not have the RM110 required to have it replaced.
Ms Nurul, too, thinks the government has overlooked her family as it has not received the RM3,700 yearly Rahmah Cash Assistance, even though it is eligible.
The Unicef study found that 30 per cent of households earning RM2,000 or less a month have not received the promised government aid.
The poor often face the additional financial burden of having to support other members of their enlarged families who are also stricken by poverty.
Ms Nurul’s husband, 39-year-old technician Mohd Effendy, earns around RM2,000 a month. But he is also the sole provider for her disabled father and housewife mother. Her father receives only RM900 a month in alms from the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council.
On May 9, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri called on the public to alert the authorities about children in poverty, adding that there are more than 130 types of assistance for children and no child should be left out.
Furthermore, efforts to improve children’s living standards are being discussed at the Malaysian Social Protection Council, while aid rates are being reviewed by the relevant government agencies to amend outdated policies and to be more inclusive for women, the elderly and disabled, she said.
In the Unicef report, Dr Muhammed said the main thing that the poor want is higher wages, followed by more cash assistance.
He said that taking in key factors such as the cost of living and median wage, Malaysia’s minimum monthly wage should be set at RM2,102 per month, instead of the current RM1,500.