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Malaysia Discovers Urban Poverty And Slums
by Kazi Mahmood
KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (IslamOnline) - Malaysia seems to have discovered that it has a serious problem with urban poverty in slums surrounding the satellite cities of Kuala Lumpur and Putra Jaya.
Plans to tackle the disturbing situation were revealed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in his 10-year plan read to Parliament on Tuesday.
A month after the dust has settled in Kampung Medan and in the vicinity of the Old Klang Road, where ethnic clashes resulted in six deaths with several arrested, the Malaysian government says it has decided to confront the issue.
Selangor, within which Kuala Lumper and Putra Jaya (a new administrative city) is located, is considered the richest and most advanced state in the Malaysian peninsular and used to be a solid bastion of the ruling coalition, always rejecting the opposition.
Yet things changed in 1999 when the Alternative Front (AF) opposition alliance made a historic first by winning several state seats, coming just short of winning a few closely fought parliamentary seats. The opposition also made inroads in once solid United Malays National Organization (UMNO) bastions to the stupefaction of the party's leadership.
The tallest building in Malaysia - once tallest in the world - and the most advanced mass transit systems are located in Kuala Lumpur. Mahathir's newest Prime Minister's office and several other governmental offices are now located in the superbly built Putra Jaya administrative center.
Yet slums abound in Selangor. They have been marked as hotspots where troubles first arise, that have the potential to spread to other regions and localities. They are also more prone to social violence with a strong presence of foreign settlers, mostly illegal migrants from Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Most of these "cities" are made of zinc roof wooden long houses, devoid of adequate drainage systems. As with slums in other metropolitan cities around the world, those of Kuala Lumpur are not serviced by the municipal administration and are health hazards to their residents.
The majority of slum residents comprise of lower economic class Malays, Chinese and Indians, the main ethnic components of Malaysia. Several slum residents visited said they were forced to live in such conditions due to the expensive cost of living in Kuala Lumpur.
They also blamed Mahathir's regime for its insistence on concentrating on mega projects while nothing is done in the slums. "There is no intention by the political class to eradicate urban poverty. Kuala Lumpur is now a very expensive place to live after the two decades of accelerated development," says one slum dweller.
"It is unthinkable that Malaysia has slums, and have people living near scavenging areas under zinc rooftops that leaks like a basket during the heavy rains carried by the monsoon," IslamOnline was told.
Low wages in Malaysia have also forced certain civil servants working in the capital and surrounding areas to live in squatter areas.
The worst is that basic amenities are lacking in some areas that came into existence over the past few years. But "some of the slums existed for ages, even before the accelerated development in Selangor," a member of a non-governmental organization said.
One community left behind in the development craze is the Indian community. It is quite obvious that a majority of them still live in the poorest areas surrounding Kuala Lumpur. Many of them form part of the poverty stricken lot in Malaysia.
The country sports an eight percent poverty level, with most of the poor earning less than $150.00 per month.
Internet journalists have been brave enough to claim in recent weeks following the Kampung Medan ethnic riot tragedy that ethnic Indians have been left in the lurch. One net journalist even asked whether the Indians would always remain guards and lorry drivers in Malaysia.
Some observers state that the Kampung Medan incident may finally become a symbol triggering a sense of responsibility among local politicians. As such, the state government of Selangor has revealed plans to build hundreds of low cost houses to replace slum shacks.
In a bid to eradicate poverty further, the Malaysian government has had several successes; the state government of Selangor intends to provide slum dwellers with basic amenities and decent jobs.
Critics however, say that it might be too late for the government to concentrate on the slums now. They say Mahathir's regime will not be able to reverse pro-opposition sentiments among Malays and Chinese in the poorest areas of Selangor.
They added that money, houses and jobs would be welcomed, but what was needed most was access to free education and free health services. "The government has a responsibility to ensure a quality of life for the people" several observers said to IslamOnline.
According to some sources, Mahathir himself agreed that even though his government had done well in reducing poverty countrywide, the extent of the urban poverty was critical.
Families living in squatter areas, in some cases, have had to wait more than 15 years to get access to low-cost housing. Many of these families are Malays or Indonesians naturalized Malaysian through a scheme active a few decades ago.
Observers told IslamOnline that Mahathir's administration would have severe problems in the future if it does not tackle urban poverty soon. It has laid down the plans to do so, but is there any political will to reach a compromise on the solutions to eradicate the slums, one observer asked.
He said this due to the fact that most of the poor areas populated by Malays are now Party Islam Se Malaysia (PAS) strongholds. The colors of the Islamic party can be seen flying high atop the roofs of several of the "houses" in slums around Gombak, Ampang and Kajang.
The political cost of ignoring the squatter areas in the past has been heavy and has brought the PAS to the gate of the UMNO's power bases. Some in Kuala Lumpur say where the Islamic party comes, it won't pass out.
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