The incidence of poverty: Case study in Ranau, Sabah.
Sabahan People – Analysis of the determinants and prevalence of poverty in Ranau, Sabah
Abstract
Poverty issue have long been concerned about the issue of income disparity among nations.
Introduction
"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom."
Make Poverty History rally, London’s Trafalgar Square (Nelson Mandela, 2005)
Poverty issue is a subject that has baffled many social scientists, economists, and even those in the legal and justice systems for more than society can barely remember. Around the world, in rich or poor nations, poverty has always been present. And to draw even closer parallels to support this fact, 10 years ago, Nelson Mandela gave his famous speech at the Make Poverty History rally in London’s Trafalgar Square, calling on world leaders to make poverty history ahead of the G7 talks that being hosted in United Kingdom.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Many studies and researches has come forward to discuss the issue of poverty in which has led to the diverse of definitions given by different scholars. Generally, poverty is defined in either relative or absolute terms. Thus, one of the renowned definition has ever been defined comes from the United Nation (UN):
"Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation"
(UN Statement, June 1998 – signed by the heads of all UN agencies)
While the World Bank offers another comprehensive definition of poverty. According to the World Bank:
"Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life"
(World Bank, 2000)
While on the other hand, Adam Smith known as the father of modern economics expressed his view on this issue.
"I saw the poverty issue as a social exclusion, human beings are by nature social creatures whereby the reason poverty causes agony is not just because it can leave people feeling hungry, cold and sick, but because it is associated with unfavourable regard"
(Sen, 2000)
These definitions shows that poverty is not just a problem that happened in certain countries but it is actually a global problem that permeate worldwide. Hence, in Malaysia, the prominent of Malaysian Economist, Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid provide his own sights on poverty:
"Poverty means not earning income to meet the main basic needs, for those individual or household that unable to obtain a healthy, nutritious food and cannot meet and maintain the physical efficiency"
(CITATIONS???)
Since the definition of poverty are quite broad, there are many approaches and methods that has been used to measure poverty. Poverty line which was also known as poverty threshold is frequently defined as the minimum level of income required to maintain a decent standard of living, either within one country, region or worldwide (Kafka, 2010).
While at the global level, The World Bank has divided poverty into two categories such as extreme poverty and moderate poverty. In which, the bank defines extreme poverty as "…living on less than US$1.25 per day> Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) while moderate poverty living as less than $2 a day". Intrinsically, the World Bank define poverty in absolute terms. Basically, different countries have different national poverty lines (Sachs, 2005).
There are several categories of addressing poverty and what is considered as poor which has been set by the Ministry of Welfare Services in Malaysia in Tenth Malaysia Plan (10th MP): (CITATIONS???)
1. Extreme poverty. These are households which fail to earn enough to fulfil basic survival needs, such as food, clothing and shelter. Households that fall into this category earn average monthly incomes of less than RM460 in Peninsular Malaysia, less than RM630 in Sabah and less than RM590 in Sarawak
2. Poor. These people fall short of certain standards of consumption which are deemed necessary to maintain ‘decency’ in society, for example, those who cannot afford healthcare and education. Households with average monthly incomes of less than RM760 in Peninsular Malaysia, less than RM1, 050 in Sabah and less than RM910 in Sarawak are defined as poor
Additionally, the federal government of Malaysia has set the minimum wage (excluding any allowances or other payments) for private sector employees in three major regions was varying in which, RM900 a month for Peninsular Malaysia or RM4.33 an hour while for Sarawak and Sabah is RM800 per month respectively, which was around RM3.85 per hour (Background to Minimum Wages in Malaysia, 2010).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Sabah, synonymous with poorest state in Malaysia for already more than a decades. The Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) reported that Sabah is currently afflicted with relatively high rates of poverty. According to the research by The State Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Sabah has the highest poverty rate of all states in Malaysia. Back in 2004, 23% of households were below the poverty line. Meanwhile, 6.5% of Sabahan households are categorised as "hardcore poor". (CITATIONS???)
The most renowned economist Professor Jeffrey Sachs, says in January 7, 2008 at the UNDP-CPDS Roundtable Dialogue entitled "Overcoming Challenges and Devising Sustainable Strategies and Programmes for Poverty Alleviation in Sabah" at the Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu, "Resource Curse is potential, but it’s not a case of inevitability for countries reliant on extracting natural resources for development". He then added, "…but if Sabah did not do it right, Sachs said of what he has observed in the state’s policy in clearing natural vegetation for oil palm, it will not only put biodiversity at risk, its people will eventually suffer from the double whammy of high population growth and high inequality in the disproportionate distribution of benefits" (Ooi, 2008).
Underlined this concerning issue, the persistence of addressing poverty in Sabah is seems to be endlessly as never ending issue. In 2010, The World Bank confirms Sabah as Malaysia poorest state. (CITATIONS???)
Problems are often experienced differently. For instance, a "major" problem to one person may be of little concern to another. However in this issues, poverty is not like a disease that can be cured with the right medicine. Thus, it demand more attention and even solution in order to alleviate poverty whether in local or global level.
In Malaysiakini, the independent news provider, the author himself tells his own experience, the heart breaking story "One of the cases I could never forget was of the family who came to Ranau Hospital just as I was leaving, a family who had failed crops, were hungry and unable to get food. The father collected some toad eggs and fed them to the whole family in a desperate attempt to stave off hunger. When they arrived at our little emergency room, one of the children were dead and two passed away within 10 minutes of arrival in our casualty unit due to poisoning" (Doctor, 2008). This situation indicates that poverty is more than a money problem and it was even considered as a responsibility to the poor and continuation of the long march to justice.
In particular, this research attempts to:
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the local population demographic characteristics and how its cause to poverty
2. How does the local population perceptions on education affect their lives
3. What are the types of cycle of poverty happened in that local population area
4. What and how is the agency role or any party involved in helping the local population
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1. To study the demographic characteristics of the local population such as age, gender, occupation, education and income;
2. To analyze the local population perceptions regarding education and furthering their study in higher level
3. To study and present an overview of the local population cycle of poverty
4. To identify the role of agencies or any parties involved in helping the local population
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding. Although the researcher have chosen quantitative as a central data collection method for this research, the verbal communication such as interview with the respondents was unavoidable. The researcher will used both questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. The reasons for choosing to combine these two data collections method because it was far much easier to be analyse later on which would help the researcher presenting the data clearly, with a strong connection between those two things and grounded by true facts.
SAMPLING METHOD
Intrinsically, sampling is the procedure used to getting a sample for study from the targeted population. A sample consists of those units from the total population, which are selected for data and information collection. There are various ways of sampling, which are used in research studies. For the purpose of this study, the researchers used a nonprobability sampling, specifically the Purposive Sampling that obtained decisions concerning the individuals to be included in the sample, based upon a variety of criteria which may include specialist knowledge of the research issue, or capacity and willingness to participate in the research. To be specific, the expected respondents for this study were 200 people, derives from Ranau Town and several villages dwellers.
ABBREVIATION
UNDP-CPDS
United Nations Development Programme – Country Programme Documents
EPU – Economic Planning Unit
DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
G7 – The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal bloc of industrialized democracies–the United States, Canada France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom–that meets annually to discuss issues such as global economic governance, international security, and energy policy.
References
Background to Minimum Wages In Malaysia. (2010, October 15 ). Retrieved from Minimum Wages Portal Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia: http://minimumwages.mohr.gov.my/employers/about-minimum-wages-policy/
Definisi Miskin Tegar. (2015, March 25). Retrieved from Ministry of Women Community and Social Development: http://www.kpwkm.gov.my/nkra/definisi
Doctor, A. (2008, September 8). Don't neglect Sabah, please. Retrieved from Malaysia Kini: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/89297
Jala, I. (2015, May 18). The measure of poverty. Retrieved from Idris Jala: http://idrisjala.my/measure-poverty/
Kafka, T. (2010). Poverty. United States: Gale Cengage Learning.
Ooi, J. (2008, January 11). Asian Correspondent. Retrieved from UNDP: ‘High levels of poverty and inequality in Sabah': http://asiancorrespondent.com/5446/undp-high-levels-of-poverty-and-inequality-in-sabah/
Rintod, L. (2012, April 15). Retrieved from http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/
2012/04/15/poverty-in-ranau/
Sachs, J. (2005). The End of Poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime . New York: The Penguin Press.
Sen, A. (2000). Social Exclusion: Concept, Application, and Scrutiny. Office of Environment and Social Development, Asian Development Bank, Social Development Papers, I.
Tenth Malaysia Plan (10th MP). (2014, September 12). Retrieved from Economic Planning Unit: http://www.epu.gov.my/en/tenth-malaysia-plan-10th-mp-
(n.d.). World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11856