The Centre for Public Policy Studies agrees with UNDP resident representative Dr Richard Leete that poverty programmes should be implemented according to policy regardless of ethnicity. Secondly, poor resource management leads directly to increased poverty levels and should be closely monitored.

Leete has pointed out that Malaysia has the highest Gini coefficient in Asia of 0.46 (the Gini coefficient measures income inequality, where 0 denotes total equality and 1 denotes total inequality).

Despite having reduced poverty levels from over 50 per cent in 1970 to just below five per cent today, the gap between the rich and the marginalised poor has been steadily increasing in the past four years - a worrying trend. Of particular concern is the Gini coefficient of bumiputera communities, indicating the highest intra-ethnic income differential of all ethnic groups in Malaysia.

While it is natural for developing economies to experience income disparity cycles during periods of economic growth, the government should take note of worsening income inequality and readily ensure social safety nets for better wealth redistribution. Affirmative action programmes to address poverty should follow existing policy of targeting poor communities regardless of race, political affiliation, and gender. Poor implementation of this, coupled with corruption and abuse of power, must, however, be addressed as this negates existing policies.

It was also stated that scarce development resources should be utilised sustainably. Indeed, Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah, all of which are particularly rich in resources (with oil, gas, timber and agriculture), are ironically also the poorest states in the country.

In order to avoid the ‘resource curse’ where resource-rich countries fail to benefit from their natural wealth, the government should improve significantly its national resource governance and management through increased revenue transparency and accountability measures. This would ensure that income from resources is invested for the purposes of long-term development.

Despite its natural resources, Sabah has 42 percent of its children living in poverty, while poverty stands at 24.2 percent. In light of these alarming poverty statistics, the CPPS calls for renewed commitment to fighting poverty by placing equity at the core of development policies and programmes.

In order to do so, the CPPS urges the government to ensure that policies addressing poverty for all poor communities regardless of race, political affiliation and gender are correctly implemented. The CPPS also recommends that the government engage in better resource management through effective revenue transparency mechanisms.

With these policies correctly implemented, Malaysia would successfully maximise its national wealth for the sake of all Malaysians alike, and steadily progress towards its goal of becoming a developed nation. To this end, it is imperative that the delivery system should be improved at a faster pace to overcome widening income disparity especially among the lowest 30 percent of the country's population.

The writer is chairperson, Centre for Public Policy Studies.