Sunday, February 13, 2011

The hidden poor in a city of affluence

Public Housing Flats at Air Panas
Three Indian Women in need 

Yesterday (Feb 13, 2011) during a visit to the DBKL flats at Air Panas, Setiawangsa, KL I met three women who shared their experience of urban poverty which provides a picture of the complex nature of urban poverty. However there are no public sector agencies or NGOs that addresses these urban poor concerns in a systematic and holistic way.

There are eights blocks of high rise flats in this neighborhood with over 2,565 units. Of these 35% are occupied by Indian families. These families were shifted from previous squatters in this region. The families originally lived and worked in two estates located in this area namely Wardiban Estate and Hawthonan Estate. The families were displaced and they lived in squatters after the estate was sold for development.

Now they have been resettled into new public housing provided by KL city hall and the monthly rent is RM124.00 The flats looks new and well kept by city hall. The infrastructure looks pleasant however when we chat with ordinary people we come to understand human suffering in these urban locations with very little public and community facilities. These people are among the new and hidden poor admits our rich city and land. Many suffer daily with very little sense of hope as reflected in the three women whom I met yesterday.

Mrs Shanti Subramaniam (35). She has got 5 children. He husband left her, one and half years ago. Her oldest daughter is 17 years old and not in school. However the remaining four are going to school. She works in a near by company and earns RM800. When her husband left her, he left her with two debts she now has to settle. One is for RM4, 244.50 which is house rent. They have not paid for nearly 5 years and are now at risk of being thrown out by city hall as she has received the notice for eviction.



Left to right - Parathy, Shanti & Puspavathy
 She also has inherited a debt of RM3,000 from an Along (illegal money lender) and her ATM card and bank book is now in the possession of the along who monthly with draws RM300.00 She is unsure how long more she has to pay and seems confused over how much she has paid.

Shanti might not be statistically poor based on Malaysian PLI measurement but definitely in Amarty Sen’s definition unable to break the cycle of poverty. She is an extremely vulnerable single mother in the city. She told me so many time she too has thought of either running away or taking her life as there seems to be no way out of the hands of illegal money lenders and financial debt.

This reality of poverty is not been captured by any of the state intervention programs in social welfare or Azam as the complexities of urban poverty are not serious taken into account in the design of intervention programs. The answer too is not to just give Shanti the needed RM7,000 to get her out of poverty but also assist her through some self help group which will provide support and some training on home budget and finance.

Mrs Parathy (42) also has five children between the ages 21 to 12. Her husband was driving a taxi but because of a loan from an along (illegal money lender) their lives have been disrupted. They borrowed to make a down payment for taxi rental but are caught in difficulties in repayments. Monthly they are paying RM250 and according to Parthy this is only to service the interest. They have been doing this for the past 2 years and there seems to be no end to this bondage.

The ugly aspect of the illegal money lender emerged when they posted a huge photocopy of his identification card in front of the house with red paint saying they have borrowed and unable to replay and that the family is untrustworthy. They felt so ashamed among their neighbors that they now pay the interest but the principle sum is unsettled yet. It seems never ending. They do not seems to get any support from any authorities like Police or city hall enforcement who are in the know of illegal activities.

Another lady who spoke to me is Mrs Puspavathy (in her 50s). She is a widow with one son who is unemployed. They have not been able to settle the house rental and owe city hall RM1, 270. She works at a plastic company and earns RM660.00 a month. She has been doing so for the past 23 years. Her salary is really low however this is what she and her son survives on.

Measuring poverty beyond an income measure

Malaysia continues to use an income measure to ascertain poverty. The Poverty Line Income (PLI) is a means income test. Malaysia sets poverty at RM750.00 and below. However globally there is a major shift in poverty measurement instruments and while income measurement is only used as one among many indicators rather than it being the sole indicator.

Together with Prof Amartya Sen at Delhi airport
A major advocate of this change in measuring instruments is Prof Amarty Sen. Recently I had the good fortune of meeting him at New Delhi airport and briefly chatted with him on this matter.

His land mark work entitled ‘Development as Freedom’, where he states “poverty as a deprivation of basic capabilities, rather than merely as low income” (pg 20). He advocates a shift “from an exclusive concentration on income poverty to the more inclusive idea of capability deprivation, we can better understand the poverty of human lives and freedoms” (pg 20)

These three stories call us to review social intervention strategies among the urban poor. We need to clearly articulate the issues and concerns and draw up initiatives which can empower people to realize their full potential.

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