An
unacademic survey, however, found that the official poverty line at the time the UNDP figures were
published, set at about RM1000,
was unrealistically low; a group of factory workers surveyed suggested that to
survive, their households would require a monthly income of about RM3000. A 3
room apartment in Malaysia near the town has a rent of between RM1500-RM4000
(according to 2010). Malaysia experienced extraordinary economic growth during
the last 3 decades, which brought prosperity and higher standards of living to
the majority of the people. One of the most important achievements in Malaysia
has been the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger. The urban
areas—especially the capital Kuala Lumpur, and major tourist destinations and
industrial cities such as George Town, Malacca, and Petaling Jaya— enjoy a
quality of living very similar to that in developed countries. The major cities
have first-class shopping centers, condominiums with air-conditioning and
swimming pools, expensive private schools, and elite clubs. The rural
population, meanwhile, often lives in traditional wooden houses in kampungs (villages) with limited
facilities. The monthly gross household income nearly doubled from MR1,167 in
1990 to MR2,007 in 1995. There has emerged a fairly strong middle class.
However, incomes are still distributed unevenly. For instance, the wealthiest
20 percent of Malaysians control 53.8 percent of the wealth, while the poorest
60 percent of the population controls just 21.3 percent of wealth. At the very
bottom of the income range, the poorest 20 percent of the population controls
only 4.5 percent of wealth. Disparities exist along both geographic and ethnic
lines. In general, the Chinese population, which has traditionally lived in
urban areas and been involved in small and medium-sized businesses or employed
in various industries, has had higher incomes than the Malays, who often live
in small towns and villages and were traditionally engaged in agriculture.
Secondly, there are considerable differences in standards of living, incomes,
and access to medical and other social benefits in different parts of the
country. Peninsular Malaysia, where the majority of the population lives, has
much higher standards of living compared to East Malaysia. Since 1970, the
Malaysian government has actively implemented social policies aimed at the
elimination of poverty and social inequality, and the development of a social welfare system . The communal unrest of 1969
prompted the Malaysian government to introduce the New Economic Policy (NEP).
This 20-year program established state support of poor communities and access
to education and social benefits for Malays and indigenous people (the Bumiputera ). This latter aspect included the
establishment of privileged access to public services, the granting of land
rights, preference in education and training, and job quotas in the public
sector. In the 1980s, Malaysia's leadership envisioned the formation of the Melayu Baru (New Malays), a better-educated,
politically and socially active people able to live in harmony with other
communities. In the early 1990s the government relaxed some privileges and
reduced some quotas for Bumiputera,
making the social welfare system more inclusive and accessible to a wider
range of people than it had been before. The recent economic turbulence of 1997
and 1998 brought higher unemployment, higher prices, and lower incomes. This
particularly affected the most vulnerable social groups of society, not only in
rural areas, but also in major urban centers.
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