TITLE: CHALLENGES TO ELIMINATE POVERTY DURING

COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN MALAYSIA

Individual Final Paper

UNGS 1201

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: ISSUES, POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Instructor:

Dr. Arina Binti Johari

By

WAN NUR ‘AIN BINTI WAN

ZULWANI @ MOHD HELMI

2012538

ainzulwani@gmail.com
 TITLE: CHALLENGES TO ELIMINATE POVERTY DURING

COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN MALAYSIA

With the appearance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), containing 17 natural,

financial, and social destinations, Malaysia should figure out what would stop the execution of

SDG. One of the important goals is to annihilating poverty. Annihilating poverty in the entirety

of its structures is probably the best test confronting humanity, especially during the pandemic.

As the pandemic has been exceptionally pitiless to poor people and the helpless, that

implements SDG getting harder. This year, unexpectedly since 1998, the total populace's extent

of living in outrageous destitution is relied upon to increment. In its worldwide 2020 Poverty

and Shared Prosperity Report, the World Bank gauges that 88 million to 115 million individuals

will be into extraordinary destitution. Same goes to Malaysia, Malaysia also has done similarly

well in controlling the spread of the pandemic. However, reflecting the circumstance

worldwide, everybody in Malaysia has been influenced, especially the B40 and those generally

powerless and battling to make a decent living before the pandemic. Thus, pandemic impacts

have set Malaysians—the helpless and the pandemic low — in an incredibly precarious

position.

As covid-19 infection diseases rising, governments are scrambling to adjust to and

receive conditions prompting another ordinary in their nations. The education area is one that

has been generally affected by the pandemic, especially to the poor. Malaysia's schooling area

has decided on internet learning or e-learning with innovation and gadgets as a judge of

correspondence to supplant up close and personal education. Unfortunately, Malaysia faces

some e-learning approach constraints. It has not been fully legalized, as the connected services

did not pay attention to these issues, prompting a lack of common sense and execution. These

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issues have set off another marvel called the "advanced gap" among nations worldwide, as

according to Sinar Harian (2020), innumerable students come from poor metropolitan families

without cell phones, laptops, or PCs at home that will make them probably be given up more

than their friends. As a result, most students living in neediness regularly consider themselves

casualties of a framework, without their independence or capacity to settle on decisions that

influence their life—also looking at the number of students from many Klang Valley's helpless

networks getting back to the school after MCO is dropping at a dangerous rate as a result of

the Covid-19 episode's interruption of school. The expense was the most significant single

factor adding to the disappointment, with a larger part of families detailed troubles in gathering

the expense related to school participation, particularly among female-headed family units.

Thus, how would they help their family exit from poverty if they drop out of school?

Past pandemics have lopsidedly harmed the working poor, especially in terms of

occupation. The public authority has requested the people to remain at home and deterred them

from going out. Most organizations are currently receiving 'telecommute' arrangements to

decrease pointless voyaging, but this is not possible for a portion of the families in the PPRs.

Their work expects them to be genuinely present, for example, lorry drivers, café labourers,

and market representatives. The idea of these positions hopes them to associate with others

practically day by day, which expands their pace of getting the infection – and therefore

spreading it. An investigation by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) assessed that married couples

with two children need around RM6,5002. Besides, Jabatan Perumahan Negara (JPN) shows

that 65.8% of the head of families in PPRs cross country procure beneath RM2,000. As such,

these families are most likely previously battling to make a decent living, and the repercussions

from the flare-up will make a massive gouge in their funds. The Malaysian Institute of

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Economic Research (MIER) likewise forewarned that the latest decision to widen the MCO

would bring unskilled labourers losing their positions. Sadly, most of them would be from the

PPRs.

The MCO implementation has carefully restricted informal business sectors, for

example, night markets. These business sectors are revenue and useful products for some low-

pay families to get modest food and merchandise, as many of the B40 cannot buy seven days'

food supply, either because they do not have the methods or need refrigeration that makes them

a beeline for the shops. However, the restriction had brought up the disruptions to markets and

supply chains that will push the price and availability of food up and affect the poor. As the

president of the Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and International Industry (MICCI), Datuk

Jalilah Baba also requested customers to be set up to confront rising costs from products as

expected during the pandemic. Some 1kg rice sack prices had risen to RM48, which is before

the pandemic we can get it for RM 18. This scenario had hardly affected the poor, and they

will become poorer. Moreover, roughly 20% of families in PPRs are independently employed.

Nonetheless, the flare-up has prompted these organizations to have to one or the other scale

back or close shop, cutting these family units off from one of their essential resources.

In conclusion, Malaysia should find the best way to overcome this problem. On top of

every one of these difficulties, we should know that the poor guardians with youngsters

presently battle with adjusting obligations at work and home. From one viewpoint, they need

to procure pay. They need to give childcare as schools and kindergartens requested to close

after the MCO, making their lives harder. Even Malaysia had many solutions during MCO and

CMCO such as Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara (PENJANA), it is only a short-term

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solution to help the poor, in the future, they will again battling with the poverty and even

become worse than before. In the future, we will see even more family could not afford to

provide food for their children, more people losing their jobs, more people living in the tramp

and more children being drop out of the school as the connected service did not manage to get

the best solution to eliminate the poverty especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. If these

scenarios continuously happen, we are moving backwards on our mission to achieve the 17

SDG goals before 2030 and become one of the world's most developing countries.

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