KOTA KINABALU: There might be a need to relook and update the hardcore poverty data in Sabah, says Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
The Chief Minister said while the household income indicator for one to be listed as hardcore poor is RM1,200 and below, there could be more than one family living in one house, but only one household head gave their information.
“Our officials have gone to the ground to gather the data needed, and we have our information needed in the e-kasih list as well,” Hajiji (Sulaman-PGRS) told the Sabah state assembly on Tuesday (July 9).
“But we will see whether there is a need to improve our data collection and update the e-kasih list,” said Hajiji.
He said this after taking into account Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s (Senallang-Warisan) argument that the factors used to measure hardcore poverty in Sabah cannot be the same as it is in other states in the country.
Shafie said that, in his opinion, Sabah had other factors to consider when measuring hardcore poverty.
He also said the more tahn 22,000 hardcore poor (statistics as at September 2023) did not seem correct in a state with a population of 3.9mil.
Shafie wanted to know in detail how the hardcore poor measurement was calculated and what it was.
Earlier, Hajiji said that the number of hardcore poor in the state had gone down to 5,379 household heads as of June 30, this year.
He said with the numerous job search programmes, interventions and assistance in place, Sabah should be able to eradicate hardcore poverty by this year, or at the latest, by next year.
