Overt racism in Malaysia has hampered rural and urban poverty eradication efforts over the years, leading to neglect and the creation of pockets of the poor from minority communities, a national conference was told.

One of the weaknesses identified in the different poverty groups is the lack of specific targeting across the Malaysian social spectrum regardless of ethnic group or religion, and the New Economic Policy did not help either.

Though no reference was made to the policy, Dr Vijay Shanmugam (photo), a former consultant to the National Unity and Social Development Ministry, said that discrimination and disadvantage for ethnic minority groups were common in many, if not most, societies.

"(And) certainly there is overt evidence of 'racism' similar to that found in Malaysia," he said during a special panel on 'Housing the urban poor and urban safety for the urban poor' at a national conference last Friday.

"But widespread evidence of racism elsewhere in the world should not be a reason for Malaysia to overlook the particular features and causes of the racism scenario in our society."

Vijay felt that the impact of race on the poverty and inequality structure should be a part of policy development, given the fact that minority groups in Malaysia have been found to be isolated and excluded due to language and cultural differences.

Ticking time-bomb

"Those who do not speak Bahasa Malaysia or English fluently are thus unable to communicate sufficiently, if at all (with the urban dwellers)," he said.

"This is a significant problem for many minority groups, but linguistic exclusion could also be compounded by cultural differences and misunderstanding between the races."

Vijay said human poverty also reflected women's poverty, which meant that urban poverty was more than an income deficiency.

"Generally, figures show urban poverty as women who have been disadvantaged, are impoverished, illiterate, in poor health, unemployed, victims of domestic violence and have low status resulting in disempowerment, such as urban ultra poor single mothers," he said.

"Gender inequality has critical impact on women since it creates disparity between men and women, while pushing women deeper into poverty."

Vijay's list of other impacts of urban poverty include ageing, disability, social problems such as gangsterism, drug addiction, prostitution, street children and child labour, and racial conflicts such as the Petaling Jaya Selatan tragedy two years ago.

He said the widening income disparity between the rich and poor increases social tension, which could lead to riots, "especially when they intersect with and exacerbate underlying, long-standing religious an ethnic tensions".

"Minorities are always an easy target on which to focus anger and resentment. Heightened social tensions increase the likelihood of political detentions and other human rights abuses."

Unfair treatment

He believes that a contributor to urban poverty are bureaucracy and a lack of information on different types of government or private aid made available to the poor.

"Most of the time, these people wish to be self-sufficient and try to start a small business but no one is around to help them with official matters such as loan application, registration and licence/permit application," he said.

He cited the case of a young ex-prisoner who had gone hunting for a small business loan after his release from Simpang Renggam, but received no help from the corporate sector or the government.

"Application procedures for small business loans should be more flexible. You can't expect an ex-convict to have all the proper documents with him such as income tax forms or Employees Provident Fund statements," added Vijay.

In a special ministerial panel discussion, Deputy Rural Development Minister G Palanivel said a social security net is needed to cover individuals in the informal job sector like lorry drivers, petty traders and gardeners.

"Those in this sector are very vulnerable because if the sole breadwinner dies in an accident or is maimed, poverty hits the family really fast, practically overnight."

He also blamed government and statutory bodies for contributing to urban poverty by being unreasonably strict with the poor or squatters, and eventually harassing them instead of helping them out.