Social Development Strategies - Iskandar Malaysia

Social Development Strategies
chapter
5
5.1 Introduction
This section deals with three socio-economic aspects; poverty, wealth
distribution and the issues relating to the Bumiputera Commercial and
Industrial Community (BCIC).
5.2 Poverty
About 93% of SJER population of 1.35 million live in urban areas. The
rest numbering about 100,000 live in rural areas consisting mainly of
traditional Malay kampungs, Felda schemes, new villages, Orang Asli
settlements and estates. For Johor state, the Poverty Line Income (PLI)
is set at RM634. For hardcore poverty, it is set at RM384 (Ninth Malaysia
Plan).
The overall poverty rate for Johor state was 2.0% in 2004 (the Ninth
Malaysia Plan). The overall poverty rate for SJER is estimated at 0.42%.
■ Urban Poverty
For Johor, the level was at 0.8% in 2002 (Malaysian Quality of Life
Report). This was well below the Malaysian average at 2.0%. For
SJER, the urban poverty rate is estimated at less than 0.1%. This is
very low considering that the majority, 92.6% of SJER population
are urban population.
Based on the proportion of Felda households which is about 15.0%
of the rural population and the proportion of kampung households
which represent most of the remaining 85.0%, the overall weighted
rural poverty rate for SJER is estimated at 4.7%. The rate is still very
much lower than the Malaysian average of 11.9% for rural poverty.
■ Hardcore Poor
The hardcore poverty rates for Johor state and Malaysia were
0.3% and 2.9% respectively in 2004 and (the Ninth Malaysia Plan).
Based on the listings by the Johor Bahru and Pontian district
offices, there is a total of 138 households receiving assistance as
at January 2006 under the Skim Pembangunan Kesejahteraan
Rakyat (SPKR) in SJER of which 100 households are in Johor Bahru
district and 38 households in the three mukims of Serkat, Sungai
Karang and Jeram Batu.
Of these, 117 households earn a gross monthly household
income of less than RM384 which are regarded as hardcore poor
households. Therefore, the hardcore poverty rate in SJER is at less
than 0.1% which is much lower than for Johor and Malaysia.
Based on the above, it is clear that absolute poverty is not a major
problem in SJER.
■ The Less Fortunate
■ Rural Poverty
The rural population in SJER is estimated to be around 100,000
people or 7.4% of the total SJER population. From the Rural
Household Survey done, it was found that the rural poverty rate
for SJER is at 5.6% for traditional kampungs and 1.4% for Felda
schemes.
The Less Fortunate mainly refers to the disabled, the orphans,
the elderly and single mothers. At present, SJER has the highest
number and proportion of the Less Fortunate in the state. It has
9,223 representing 28.9% of the state’s total in 2005. In SJER, the
majority, about 65.0% are the disabled and 16.0% are orphans.
5 - 1