Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Datuk Abd Jabar Che NaiMalaysia cannot fully prosper if parts of it remain in poverty. TheRural and Regional Development Ministry is embarking on projectsto increase the income of the hardcore poor.HAZIM Abdul Rahman was excited, and not only because he was in his best clothes.The 10-year-old was grinning ear-to-ear as his family was moving into their newhome, a three-bedroom house with electricity and running water.It was something he had to get accustomed to from the wooden shed with noamenities, where he and his family had lived previously. With his belongings in hisschoolbag, which doubled up most of the time as his travelling bag, he was nowready to take the big step into a brand newworld, make new friends and begin a newlife, at a place called Agropolitan Gahai orsimply “Gahai”, located some 20km awayfrom Kuala Lipis in the interior of Pahang. Gahai is the second suchGahai is the second such projectimplemented by the Rural and RegionalDevelopment Ministry, through its agency,the Rubber Smallholders DevelopmentAuthority (Risda), since 2008.The first, Projek Agropolitan Pulau Banggi,off Kudat in Sabah, was undertaken bythe Federal Land Consolidation andRehabilitation Authority (Felcra), anotheragency under the ministry. Hazim’s wasamong the 80 families of Agropolitan Gahairelocated from their original villages.project implemented bythe Rural and RegionalDevelopment Ministry,through its agency, theRubber SmallholdersDevelopment Authority(Risda), since 2008.Participants were not only given new houses but also promised a new hope fora better tomorrow, with a stable source of income. From being a population inthe backwaters, they are now the mainstream. The families moved into Gahai ayear ago. The project opened its gates to participants with the primary objectiveof elevating hardcore poverty among the rural folks in the interiors of Malaysia,especially those marginalised by development.They were not forgotten, but simply left behind. In most societies, they remainforgotten, if not marginalised. The ministry is working hard to alleviate poverty,especially in Sarawak and Sabah. Our work with Gahai has set the pace for furthereradication of poverty in Malaysia. Efforts are in place to set the poor free fromthe shackles of indigence altogether.109