Malaysia’s flawed plans to make life for the young and poor easier
Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s plan to improve the lives of the bottom 40% are severely lacking
By Yin Shao Loong
Affordable housing, public transportation, and raising the incomes of the B40(bottom 40%) are major aspects of the 11th Malaysia Plan. Malaysian households of the middle-class and below are presently weighed down by housing loans and vehicle loans, a situation compounded by weak wages that are stagnant in real terms. Low-income Malaysians are struggling to get housing loans since the central bank tightened credit eligibility criteria.
Federal government ‘affordable housing’ programmes such as PR1MA are actually overpriced by at least 11 percent, according to Institut Rakyat’s research. Low-cost rental housing ranges from the unaffordable to the dilapidated, with many low-cost flats being poorly governed and maintained.
Public transport has expanded in recent years, but rail networks are having to fit around decades of pro-automobile planning, and inner city bus routes still leave many poor communities isolated. Buses comprise one of the most affordable modes of public transport, costing a fraction of rail.
Unfortunately, bus transit in the 11MP is geared towards intra-city connections rather than improving inner city connectivity. It should prioritise both because by 2020 Malaysia is expected to hit 75 percent urbanisation.
A simple, holistic planning approach to urban development that combines affordable housing/rental and public transportation alongside wage improvements, could generate sharper improvements than the current 11MP, where these initiatives exist separately. A “total affordability” approach prioritises the financial situation of the bottom 40 percent of income earners by seeking to relieve them of the crushing housing and vehicle debt bequeathed by Malaysia’s existing development plans.
Public transport would connect areas of affordable housing and rental to workplaces where wage policies should be delivering improvements in income. There would be little need to take a vehicle loan, and housing payments should be within the bounds of affordability.
The result would be more disposable income for households, leading to improved domestic demand, which could provide a much needed boost for the local service sector.
If urban planning and zoning is not approached holistically, then we risk social fragmentation.
Affordable housing may lack public transport connectivity and the wages of the B40 will continue to struggle to make ends meet. This is our present situation and we cannot afford to let it continue.
Yin Shao Loong is executive director at Institut Rakyat, a think tank that “envisions a Malaysia that flourishes under sustainable economic development matched with social, environmental, ethnic, regional and religious harmony.”
