Income inequality has remained high over the years, and this may partly explain the increase in some of the social problems in the country.
The source for this graph said it makes use of income figures obtained from the official Household Income Survey adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index with 1970 as the base year.
How has this income inequality arisen?
Is it an inevitable feature of ‘progress’?
Or is it an unavoidable result of our capitalist model of development that rewards those with Big Capital?
Or more precisely, could it be the outcome of neo-liberal policies (including privatisation) that favour the wealthy, Big Business and well-connected or even corrupt cronies? Notice, the gap between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 40 per cent grew wider after the Mahathir administration embraced privatisation and other neoliberal policies from the late 1980s.
Or is the widening gap the result of the lowering of the tax rate, especially for the wealthy and corporations, while the position of workers has grown weaker?
A significant 40 per cent of households still earn less than RM2300 per month. There are also disparities between Sabah/Sarawak and the peninsula and between rural and urban areas within the peninsula.
Our Gini coefficient (a measure of income inequality) at 0.44 in 2009 is one of the highest in the region, comparable to Singapore’s.
What can we do to narrow this gap and empower those at the bottom of the social heap?
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Nothing is easy. Only Ammo and Be end want it the easy way out
That’s why many has shun Gardenia for Massimo.
Massimo is cheaper and tastier than Gardenia ! besides can makan tanpa was was as it is no roti kroni !
Was speaking to a Malay woman who is doing Car Parking job. She said its her own contact with MPPP. She said, Pre-2008, no way she would have got this contract. However when PR took over, she managed to get the job without pulling any strings. Her only point – she was jobless and suffering. PR Govt gave her an opportunity withour having to give any kickback.
Now she says the job is not easy – but she has a good income and thankful that PR has given her the opportunity to work
Anil, I love your parting shot – What can we do to narrow this gap and empower those at the bottom of the social heap? In general I’d say that empowerment need to be specific to the focus groups which unfortunately are too demographically, geographically and culturally diversed; hence a well elaborated and effective focus-group based road-map is desired. This is something that I really want to see coming from the Pakatan Rakyat leadership. We need to move beyond ABU to something more sustainable in the long run. Pakatan convention in Kedah middle of this month should dedicate at the… Read more »
Actually, a lot of the inequality involves the bumi groups in Sarawak, and Sabah too has a relatively high poverty rate.
Gerakan K mungkin belum pernah ke Kuching. Sarawak kaya dengan hasil semulajadi tapi entah mana pergi duit lumayan sampai tengah kota Kuching pun tak ada “Bus Station” yang sempurna untuk rakyat miskin ! Orang Kuching kena tunggu di bawah sinaran matahari tanpa bumbung. Cuba pergi ke daerah dekat Masjid Negeri.
Kuching Sentral hanya impian sahaja !
The solution is to keep repeating “high-income nation” and invite more dirty, exploitative industries into the country.
Blame BN for making cronies rich without having to work hard with contracts for ali baba practices.
Anil, bolehkah kamu berfikir tanpa ‘copy and paste’ idea dari buku seperti teori ekonomi ??? Apa income inequality ??? Mau salahkan kerajaan BN lagi ke ??? Boleh ke kamu bersifat neutral dalam artikel kamu ??? Sila FIKIR dengan idea sendiri faktor-faktor berikut yang menjadi sebab, mengapa pendapatan individu adalah tidak sama: 1] orang yang berpendidikan tinggi (ada sijil Ijazah) dan boleh mempraktikan kemahiran mereka VS orang yang tiada sijil ijazah tetapi boleh berkerja VS orang yang ada sijil ijazah tetapi tidak boleh kerja 2] orang yang rajin berkerja VS orang yang malas berkerja 3] orang yang berkerja dalam bidang yang… Read more »
Hai Gerakan K
Pernah mengunjung ke rumah peribadi Mukhriz ? Orang Jerlun berusaha gigih tapi tanpa “lubang” tak mungkin boleh hidup mewah seperti beliau dalam tempuh begiti singkat umurnya.
Ataupun pergi ke Scott Road dekat Spura di bawah banglo berjuta ringgit hasil lembu tapi duit rakyat di rantau orang ?
Insaf !