JUST by revising the national poverty line income (PLI), the number of households categorised as “poor” increased by a staggering 16 times. Malaysia’s new PLI is now RM2,208 for a monthly household from RM980. As such 405,441 households last year were marked as poor compared to 24,700 in 2016 .
The new numbers are supposed to be bad news. But the truth is, it is a more realistic figure under current circumstances. No household technically can live with RM980 a month today. The PLI has not been revised since 2006. The cost of living since then has spiralled and inflation, despite official denial over the years, have impacted upon the livelihood of especially, the so-labelled “urban poor.”
