The urban poor need immediate attention

I drive through many parts of Selangor and the Federal Territories almost on a daily basis and cannot help but notice that amid the towering skyline of condominiums, office buildings and bungalows, there are low-cost housing colonies all aroud, some of which are an ugly sight with their fading facades, illegal stalls all around the neighbourhood, cars parked haphazardly, rubbish all over, unsightly graffiti of gang numbers and symbols – the list goes on. Nothing new, really.

Going into one of these low-cost flats is another horrifying experience. Families living in matchbox-sized flat units, lifts which are spoilt, rubbish strewn all over, again gang numbers and symbols sprayed on almost every wall of the building, units with no doors, grills and windows presumably stolen by other residents or besi buruk peddlars. The condition of these low-cost flats is a far cry from the ones in Singapore.

I spoke to an old man who stays in the one of the units at Desa Mentari flats in Sunway. He told me that he was better off living in the estate in Perak where he was born. This is the plight of the urban poor who live right next to affluent housing areas like Damansara in Petaling Jaya and Sunway. It’s no wonder these people, the urban poor, turn to crime to earn a living. Because of the harsh and uncomfortable living environment, a significant number also turn to drugs and alcohol as a form of escapism from the harsh realities of life.   

There is a widening income gap between the rich and the poor in the urban areas, creating phenomenon called “urban poverty”. The urban poor are dominant in areas where there are large numbers of low-cost flats or Pusat Perumahan Rakyat (PPR flats) in Selangor and the Federal Territories (FT). I call these areas the “ghettoes” of Selangor and the FT.

I have organised community programmes in these areas and I have come across parents who can’t afford to buy schoolbags and shoes for their children; single mothers who can’t afford to take care of their children as result of the rising cost of living in the city; children from families which become unstable because of alcoholism and debts incurred by parents who can’t earn enough money to sustain a living in the city and then end up in poverty; children from unstable families who drop out from school and end up in the streets, working in carwash outlets, car workshops, factories, stalls, restaurants and scrap metal yards; and children and young adults from these unstable families who end up in crime in order to live. In fact as a practising criminal lawyer, I can say that a large number of youths becoming involved in dangerous crimes are from these “ghettoes”.

The old man whom I spoke to complained that there were not enough jobs to go by because foreigners had moved in and taken over a lot of jobs as they were willing to work for a pittance. His children could not compete with these foreigners as it is impossible to live in Petaling Jaya or Kuala Lumpur on that kind of salary. Because of the failure to get decent paying jobs, one of his sons is now in prison as he had resorted to crime to earn a living. He is depressed about it and he tries to forget the pain by drinking.

He said he is not the only one in this situation and he knows of many families who are in the same depressing situation as he is. “We have no hope as we are a forgotten lot,” he said.

This is the harsh reality of life that the urban poor are facing. The government must immediately step in to look into this problem because if they don’t, more and more Malaysians from the urban poor will be imprisoned, shot dead by the police or die of alcohol and drug abuse, and there will be an increase of dysfunctional families where the father has left the family because he is in prison, a drug addict, mentally unstable, diseased, an alcoholic or just dead. The children from such families will be left to fend for themselves in an urban setting – some may make it, but most will be trapped in a life of crime, alcohol and drugs. It’s a vicious cycle that the government needs to break.

Here are some solutions:

1. Create more employment opportunities with decent salaries. Currently even local authorities in Selangor are employing contractors who hire foreign labour to clean drains and sweep roads. This has to stop. We should employ Malaysians to clean our own drains and roads, period! Local authorities must employ Malaysians to do these jobs and not contract them out. There are so many areas within the local authority where jobs are abundant, but sadly they are contracted out and foreigners or cheap labour as I call it end up doing most of these jobs.

For example, why are foreigners collecting our household rubbish, cleaning our drains and streets? I am sure with a good salary and benefits, local authorities could attract Malaysians to do the job of cleaning our streets and drains. We tend to always say that Malysians are not interested in these types of jobs. Surely they won’t be if the salary is low. Rich local authorities like Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Subang and Klang can afford to do this but they have not. Let’s try it for the sake of saving Malaysians.

Recently, the Selangor government raised the poverty income threshold to RM 1,500 and announced that funds under the state’s poverty eradication programmes for the poor will be increased to encourage entrepreneurship.

Generally this is a good move but poverty eradication will be more effective if the poor are given jobs with decent salaries. The Selangor government should instruct the rich local councils in Selangor to open up more job opportunities for the urban poor instead of relying on contractors who hire foreign workers to do simple jobs like cleaning drains, streets, collecting household rubbish and even landscaping work.

The state can channel funds from its coffers to smaller local councils with less revenue to encourage them to hire locals to do these simple jobs by themselves instead of relying on foreigners. The Penang government has done this very successfully. The Selangor state government can set a minimum wage between RM2,500 and RM3,000 or more, plus benefits like EPF to attract Malaysians to do these menial jobs.

The Selangor state should also set up small or mini skills-training centres in all PPR flats in Selangor to encourage youths, young adults and the elderly to learns simple but lucrative skills like aircond servicing, wiring, carpentry, sewing, or even making roti canai as even roti canai now is made by Bangladeshis and Indian nationals. Many school dropouts and the jobless who would otherwise resort to criminal activities can benefit from such an initiative as jobs are readily available in these sectors. With these skills they can even start off on their own with financial support from the state.

2. We must be serious in tackling the problem of cheap foreign labour. We must restrict the areas they are able to work in. Right now, foreigners are even working in petrol stations because they are cheap. Why can’t we restrict foreigners from working in petrol stations and hire more Malaysians by offering  good salaries and benefits? I am sure Malaysians from all walks of life will grab the opportunity. Cheap foreign labour has crept into a lot of industries over the years. The government must pay serious attention to this reality. We only need to increase salaries by making it mandatory for employers to hire more Malaysians by giving competitive salaries and benefits and not making excuses especially when the company is making big profits.

3. Built more and bigger affordable homes for the poor. The built-up area of current low-cost housing units in Selangor and FT are against the UN standards on housing. A 600 sq feet apartment is not conducive for families of four to six to live in. It is depressing living in a small cramped flat.

4. Bring aid directly to the urban poor. More companies should conduct job recruitment drives in the PPR flats by offering good salaries and benefits. I say this because a lot of people belonging to the urban poor cannot even fill an application form properly as illiteracy is high among them and they lack even an awareness of health and economic/employment issues. We need only give them jobs with decent salaries and benefits; the rest will then fall into place.

Companies can also open up a part of their manufacturing or production facilities in the low-cost colony itself to make things easier for single mothers, the elderly and disabled to obtain employment. They can also adopt hardcore poor families by looking after their needs or, better still, by giving them decent paying jobs.

5. The government should look into financial statements of companies making big profits and impose strict conditions for them to employ foreign workers. Companies making big profits, foreign or local, must not be allowed to depend on foreign workers and should be made to employ locals as they are able to pay decent salaries. The government cannot afford to be lax in this issue.

6. Affirmative action programmes must be targeted for the urban poor to uplift their economic status.

7. Immediately set up a Cabinet-level task force to tackle urban poverty, consisting of experts to deal with issue and come up with realistic and workable solutions. – December 12, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.