BY: CHA HUI YEE

Since the 60s, eleven Malaysia Plans have been revealed and now the 12th Malaysia Plan has been unveiled to Malaysians offering the promise of a better future for Malaysians through a number of key initiatives.

But possibly the biggest challenge under the 12th Malaysia Plan is to restructure incomes and earnings and ensure the equitable distribution of wealth in the belief that many more Malaysians can prosper.

This is the crux of the Plan as currently there are pockets of wealth and acres of poverty indicating that there is still a wide disparity between the rich and the poor and that the gap between the haves and the have nots need to be bridged.

Eradicating poverty in East Malaysia and the East Coast states is important to bring about a healthier development model for the country as the people living in this region are starting to walk along the famished and deprived road.

While other sectors of the nation are faring quite well, the assessment on the ground is that abject poverty brought about and complicated by the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has raised concern over the future of the poor in this country.

This is why the government needs to reorganize its list of priorities and tinker with the budget of RM400 billion for the 12MP from 2021 to 2025 by putting in place vital mechanisms to keep poverty in check and ensure equity.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher