“It must be noted that Penang’s poverty line fixed at RM790 per household per month is even lower than the national poverty line of RM980,” he said in a press conference on the sidelines of the state legislative assembly sitting here today. “Another study found that one million households nationwide, representing 36 per cent of B40 families were living below the relative poverty line income of RM2,292 per month. “If we were to apply the same relative poverty line income figures above to Penang, then we are looking at 57,362 families or 12 per cent of Penang’s entire population,” he said. “So, I say, instead of fighting over race and religion, we should wage a war on poverty and it should be addressed by the state government in the 2020 state budget,” he said. Gooi also said that the key to winning the war on poverty was to free children from the cycle of poverty.

Source: New Strait Times November 04, 2019 14:03 UTC