Perak DAP is ready to be taken to court over a dispute that the state has the largest number of people in the lower income group in the country, totalling 192,000, with each household earning a monthly income of RM2,000.

According to statistics from the Prime Minister's Department, about 40 percent of the 2.4 million households in the lower income group in the country in 2009 were residing in Perak.

NONE The 10th Malaysia Plan puts Perak in the top, with 12.5 percent of its residents in the lower income group, followed by Sabah (11.4 percent), Johore (11.1 percent), Kedah (10.2 percent), Sarawak (10.1 percent), Selangor (9.8 percent) and the other states with a total of 34.6 percent.

According to the figures, Perak is the state with the fourth highest number of hardcore poor, consisting of 18,200 families as of 2007.

Sabah has the highest number, with 78,800 hardcore poor families, followed by Kelantan with 21,300 families and Sarawak, 20,600 families.

The row over the numbers of poor families in Perak between DAP state secretary Nga Kor Ming  and Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir started at the state assembly sitting on Tuesday, when Zambry was accused of refusing to acknowledge that Perak had 192,000 people in the lower income group.

Zambry then challenged Nga to prove his point and the DAP leader has now thrown gauntlet back, daring the former to take him to court if he disputed the statistics.

"I can get more publicity to expose the true state of affairs in the silver state if taken to court," Nga said, in jest.

He added that his public statements are backed with facts and figures, and are not just hot air mere lip as Zambry assumes.

'Hamidah mislead the House'

On another issue, Nga, who is Taiping MP and Pantai Remis assemblyperson, called on the BN state assembly speaker R Ganesan to refer senior exco member Hamidah Osman to the Privileges Committee for misleading the House on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures during the sitting on Tuesday.

NONE Hamidah ( left ) had said the total FDI into Perak stood at RM11.6 billion, but Nga, who is also DAP national assistant treasurer, questioned the figure.

He said that according to the United Nations Investment Report of 2010, the total FDI in Malaysia was only RM4.4 billion. So, he asked, how did Hamidah come up with the figure of RM11.6 billion?

"Do not mislead the assembly with such figures... misleading foreign investors will discourage them from investing in the country," he warned. "She must make a public apology to Perakians for such misleading statements."

Nga said in terms of FDI, Malaysia had lost out to the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam and was at present on par with third world countries like Cambodia, Burma and Laos.

NONE To further strengthen his argument, he quoted International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed as saying the total investment in Perak for 2009 was RM890 million, of which FDIs made up RM400 million.

"Hamidah must be referred to the Privileges Committee for misleading the House, just like Anwar Ibrahim was cited for stating that the 1Malaysia theme came from the 1Israel campaign," Nga added.