Too early for an RCI on poverty, says Anwar

The government and other local experts should be given a chance to provide input about the poverty situation in the country before considering a royal commission of inquiry (RCI), said PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

"It's too early. We need to give space to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and also utilise economic experts such as professor Jomo Kwame Sundaram and others from Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to provide input," he said.

Anwar, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of Islamic Development Department Malaysia event in Seri Kembangan today, was responding to calls for an RCI to scrutinise a United Nations (UN) report claiming that Malaysia was underreporting its poverty numbers.

Anwar said the parliamentary caucus on reform and governance, which he heads, had discussed the report two weeks ago.

"We have taken note of the report and will provide comments to all MPs," he added.

Yesterday, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang (photo) had proposed the setting up of an RCI on poverty and also recommended various experts to sit on the commission. 

Last month, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston's said Malaysia was severely underreporting its poverty figures. 

He said Malaysia's poverty line of RM980 per household, which translated to a poverty rate of 0.4 percent, was unrealistically low.

"The use of a very low and highly unrealistic poverty line obscures the more troubling reality that millions of families scrape by on very low incomes and there is significant hardship in urban as well as rural areas," he said.

Alston added that the poverty rate in Malaysia was closer to 15 percent.

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