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As the nation is eagerly awaiting the final national budget before the 14th General Election, which is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on Oct 27, the NewGen Party is urging the government to give special focus to the plight of the poor and the marginalised sections of the Malaysian population.

The NewGen Party, which advocates for the welfare, wellbeing and the rights of minority communities, is proposing the following recommendations to be included in the national budget to reflect inclusive policies.

Household income

The NewGen Party is calling upon the government to redefine the income classification of B40 and create a new category of lower middle class (LM20). The existing classification of B40, with a household income of below RM 3,900 is unsustainable and impractical with the rising cost of living, which is outpacing wage growth.

This is further compounded with the inflationary trend and weaknesses of the ringgit against global currencies.

As such, we recommend increasing the B40 household income limit to RM5,000, and the creation of a new LM20 category with a household income of between RM5,000 and RM9,000. This will cushion the burden of costs of living of this critical working middle class.

Housing

The housing issue is both critical and a basic necessity, especially for the urban poor of B40 and LM20 categories. It is appalling to note only three percent of Indian, seven percent of Bumiputera and 12 percent of Chinese own houses among the B40 category.

We call for the building of affordable houses for B40 to be increased, and also extend it to LM20. The government must consider building one million affordable houses by 2022 - an average of 250,000 affordable houses per year from the 2018 financial year.

Local councils must provide quality facility maintenance including functioning lifts, apartment upkeep, basic infrastructure etc. The state and/or federal governments should absorb all maintenance fees for low cost, People’s Housing Project (PPR), and PR1MA properties.

The government must also make it mandatory for all housing developers to allocate 20 percent of new developments for affordable houses.

Cost of living

We call upon the government to introduce a National Smart Card or a Ration card to all B40 groups and LM20 to purchase essential items at discounted prices to cushion ever the increasing costs of living. We could emulate international best practices for subsidy programmes through smart cards, which has proven to be effective.

We also recommend the reduction of GST rates by two to four percent for a start, and make all essential items GST-free.

Petrol at pump prices should be entitled to an RM1 subsidy for National Smart Card holders, as should public transportation travel.

Crime rate

An effective measure to fight gangsterism and juvenile delinquency is to catch them young and house them in boarding schools both sports and non-sports schools.

As such, we recommend increasing the intake of ethnic minorities and B40 and LM20 students to about 30 percent in all sports schools and public boarding schools, as well as constructing a further 10 more of these schools.

Agropreneur training institutes

A concerted effort to reduce gangsterism and to manage high-risk youths is to encourage them to get involved in modern and high tech farming.

In this light, we recommend training about 5,000 high-risk youths annually in high tech agriculture to become agropreneurs. We should emulate international best practices in farming, which would also assist the nation in reducing the RM46 billion in food import bill.

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