According to the Malaysia Human Development Report 2013
released by the United Nations Development Programme, income inequality in
Malaysia is among the worst in the region. The report also highlighted that while absolute poverty has generally decreased, relative poverty has emerged as a growing concern.
As Aristotle put it, “Poverty is the parent of crime.” Was
he right? No. Although poverty and crime to a certain extent are associated,
they are not mutually exclusive.Although rising inequality does not definitively suggest the existence of poverty, coupled with indication of poverty, it demonstrates that the poor are being left behind.
While we move into the 11th Malaysia Plan, it is disheartening to see how being poor in Malaysia can quite literally become a crime.
Seemingly, these poor
people are a marginalised sector of our society due to the widening gap between
the rich and the poor. These people are in fact the victims of poverty.At the end of the day, the reality is that the rich got rich faster than the poor.
Another problem are the rowing cases of child abuse and negligence in Malaysia are becoming a serious issue for the government and the general public.
Just recently in Butterworth, the father of a 7-year-old
girl who was found abandoned and abused in an apartment was charged under
Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.In many cases, the parents might be financially unstable or poorly educated. Such forms of scarcity could then lead to abusive behaviour.
Similarly, homelessness is another great concern that
affects thousands of people across the country. The awful part is that people who are homeless are generally blamed for their homelessness.
The public typically perceive homeless people as lazy.
The fact is, the presence of homelessness in the city indicates the failure of government to provide adequate social welfare for the poor.
Source: The malaysian Insider
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