PETALING JAYA: Sarawak hopes to halve its number of people living in hardcore poverty by 2026, from the 17,482 households listed in the eKasih database as of May this year.
State women, childhood, and community wellbeing development minister Fatimah Abdullah said a special task force had been established by her ministry to work with longhouse chiefs, district officers and village committees in identifying hardcore poor families.
According to Dayak Daily, the state minister also acknowledged that the 17,482 heads of households listed in eKasih might not reflect the actual number of people living in hardcore poverty.
“We will identify who exactly falls into the category of extreme poverty in the eKasih database. For example, the breadwinner of the family may no longer be able to generate income due to reasons like old age or chronic illnesses.
“These are the categories of people we want to target to eradicate extreme poverty,” she said.
Fatimah added that the task force would identify individuals who could be roped into “income-generating activities” while receiving up to RM5,000 in aid to assist them in that endeavour.
In July 2022, the Dewan Rakyat was told that more than 97,000 households in Sarawak were living in poverty, of which 39,858 were deemed hardcore poor.
The statistics department also said in July last year that Sarawak was the state with the third-highest poverty rate at 10.8%, after Sabah (19.7%) and Kelantan (13.2%).
Four Sarawak districts were also listed as among the 10 districts with the lowest median household gross income, according to the department.
