The economic position of the minority bumiputera groups in Sabah is so low that they are said to be occupying the lowest rung of the national economic ladder, according to a status paper presented at an economic congress on bumiputera minorities.

"Looking at the economic position of the minority bumiputera community in Sabah (from their poverty level), it is abundantly clear that collectively, they occupy the lowest rung of the economic ladder," Sabah's non-governmental organisation Indigenous Group for Economic Progress (Indep) chief executive officer Dr Bilson Kurus and Tuaran member of parliament Wilfred Madius Tangau said in the paper.

The paper was presented at the first-ever Bumiputera Minorities Economic Congress held in Kuala Lumpur early this month. Jointly organised by the Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sarawak, it was officiated by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Lamenting the lack of official data, they said there is 'a critical need' to put in place clear indicators for assessing their current and more important future economic performance towards the national goal of achieving a developed nation status by 2020.

Minority bumiputera groups in Sabah normally refer to Kadazandusun, Murut, Bajau, Rungus, Suluk and Sungai.

In a state where the poverty line is anyone earning less than RM690 is regarded as poor (compared with Peninsular Malaysia's RM529 and Sarawak's RM600), Sabah is ranked third poorest (at 22.6 per cent in 1995) after Terengganu (23.4 per cent) and Kelantan (22.9 per cent).

"However, where non-Malaysian citizens (Indonesians and Filipinos present in the state) are taken into account, Sabah has the dubious distinction of occupying the top spot at 26.2 and 22.1 per cent in 1995 and 1997 respectively," the duo said.

Why the high poverty rate

This spot has remained intact for Sabah as a recent household income survey conducted in 2002 showed Sabah still has the highest poverty rate of 16 per cent compared with the national average of 5.1 per cent.

Among the factors cited for the high poverty rate in Sabah were 'low educational and skills level and location in the interior' which resulted in development programmes not reaching the target groups.

Other popular causes of rural poverty in Sarawak have been identified as lack of basic facilities, unproductive land and small land-size leading to low productivity, lack of access to credit and marketing facilities that contributes to the low economic volume of rural productivity, high average production cost and lack or inadequate non-farm income for rural households.

"The factors are not surprising given that rural poverty predominates among the poor households in Sabah," Dr Bilson and Wilfred said.

They cited statistics to show that almost half of the Kadazandusuns were reported to be poor in 1990 and almost a quarter of them were hardcore poor in 1997.

Likewise, almost half of the Muruts were classified as poor and 15 per cent hard-core poor in 1990 and 1997 respectively.

"While these figures declined substantially by 1997, the rural dwelling minority groups in Sabah continue to record the highest incidence of both poor and hardcore poor households among all ethnic groups in the country."

"It is clear that the large majority of the poor comprised of rural dwellers who are predominantly made up of the indigenous community."

They used this statistical data to argue, among other things, for the inability of the minority groups not being taken to benefit from some of the programmes initiated by the government.

Unless the dilemma facing the minorities, which they described as the marginalized groups in the country, were rectified, according to the Indep CEO and Tuaran MP, "it is a certainty that the minority bumiputera community in Sabah will be left further behind in the evolving digital age and K-economy environment."

They said with just 15 years to go before the year 2020, two fundamental challenges that remain for the nation are, firstly, the need to put in place specific 'enabling strategies' that would provide all segments of society, but especially the minority bumiputera groups, equitable opportunities to equip themselves and contribute their fair share towards the realization of Vision 2020.

Critical years

The second challenge is to ensure that such programmes and strategies do in fact reach and make an impact on the target groups, they added.

The duo described the remaining years of the first decade of the 21st century as arguably the most critical under Vision 2020 framework to identify and rectify weaknesses.

"This decade also provides a much-needed window of opportunity to put in place corrective enabling strategies that would focus specifically on the minority bumiputera groups who continue to flounder in the sea of development around them."

They described 'the window of opportunity' as particularly critical in addressing a number of central development issues.

Among these are liberating the minority bumiputera groups from the longstanding stigma of the 'poor' and 'hardcore poor' and the establishment of a growing class of minority bumiputera entrepreneurs equipped with the requisite skills to effectively compete both internally as well as externally in the dynamic and evolving business environment of the 21st century.

A third issue is reducing the educational gap both within as well as between minority bumiputera students, especially those in the rural areas, and with other communities in the country such that they are better able to compete for tertiary educational opportunities on their own merits.

At the same time, Dr Bilson and Wilfred said that "the onus is also on the minority groups to be pro-active in uplifting their own economic position".

"Development is a two-way traffic and both sides must work hand in hand to address whatever issues may prevail. They must be ready to discard any inhibiting traits and willingly adopt new attitudinal approaches whenever necessary," they added.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.