GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s hardcore poverty rate is now zero, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the last 45 hardcore poor families have received financial assistance from the government’s Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) and are above the hardcore poverty line.

“As of April 29, Penang had recorded 45 hardcore poor households compared to 4,949 on Jan 31 last year.

“I take the opportunity to congratulate the ICU and all parties who had worked hard in identifying the families and channelling them aid to bring them out of the hardcore poverty line.

“At present, ICU is channelling special financial assistance for three months from April to June to the hardcore poor households involved to meet the Poverty Line Income (PGK) that has been set.

“Now, there are no families below the hardcore poverty line in Penang and the state will ensure this data can be maintained until this special assistance is stopped in July,” he said during the Kenduri Aidilfitri Perpaduan event yesterday at Galeri Pejuang in Cherok To’kun, hometown of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

According to the government’s ICU website, hardcore poor refers to households with a monthly income of less than RM1,198, while those earning less than RM2,589 are classified as poor.

As of March 31, there are 472,153 hardcore poor households in the country, with 77,141 of them classified as hardcore poor and 395,012 who are poor.

Among them, 243,460 are in the city while 228,693 in rural areas.

Chow said to eradicate hardcore poverty, the state through its i-Sejahtera programme has allocated RM10.1mil so far to benefit 56,157 recipients in central Seberang Perai district.

Anwar, who was present, said he would propose during the next Cabinet meeting that each minister or agency head be appointed to look after a village.

He said this would ensure each leader was directly responsible for looking after the welfare of the village.

Anwar said he would look after the welfare of Kampung Cherok To’kun, where he was born in 1947.

“To eradicate poverty in rural areas, I urge every leader to look after a kampung. I will take Cherok To’kun.

“Many villages are faced with issues such as unemployment, poverty, broken homes, drug abuse, crime, and the need for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

“All these can be discussed among villagers and then raised to the leader.

“We have more than 2,000 leaders from the government, agencies and government-linked companies who can provide more down-to-earth services.

“Regardless of how busy (the leaders are), they ought to know about the problems faced by people in these villages,” he said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/05/06/penang-achieves-zero-hardcore-poverty-says-chow