The Chains of Poverty

by Angie Liew

“Don’t give money to the homeless, they’re just lazy.”

“Why should I give money to charities claiming to help the poor? It won’t make a difference!”

“Why don’t they just get proper jobs?”

Chances are you’ve probably heard similar phrases at some point in your life. Perhaps you’ve even thought them yourself. It is often not easy to understand or empathize with those in poverty, but it is important to accept the reality that for many, poverty is not a choice. 

In 2019, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that the revised National Mean Poverty Line (PLI) was RM2,208—an increase from RM980 in 2005. This is a measurement of what is known as ‘absolute poverty’ and is determined from data based on gross household income required to meet food and non-food needs. Even with the decline in poverty levels, there are still approximately 400,000 homes in the nation considered “poor”. 

A fundamental concept that explains what keeps many trapped in poor situations is known as ‘The Poverty Cycle’. Usually passed down through generations, this example briefly explains an example of a family stuck in the vicious cycle:

Let’s say we have a young girl named Sarah. Her father passed away in a site accident at his job as a construction worker, leaving her mother to provide for the family. Unable to afford tuition fees on top of providing necessities, they can no longer afford education for Sarah and her siblings. 

Without proper education or working skills, Sarah grows up unable to find a good-paying job. Also uneducated, her mother advises her to get married so that she can at least be provided for by her husband. However, her options are limited and she marries another poor man from her village. They end up having multiple children without the knowledge of how to use contraception, and with both parents unable to source stable incomes, the family is constantly short of food. Things already seem harsh as it is, but it gets worse.

Born malnourished, Sarah’s children begin to develop long-term health issues such as anemia, Pellagra, dementia, and persistent fatigue. With multiple detrimental conditions, Sarah now has to spend much of her time caring for her children who she cannot also afford education for. The cycle continues as the family remains trapped in poverty for generations.

So, how can this cycle be broken? As YB Yeo Bee Yin, Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment, and Climate Change puts it: 

“Education enables rags to riches stories at the individual level as well as higher labor productivity and job creation at the individual level as well as higher labor productivity and job creation at the macro level.”

While there are unfortunately still over 70,000 children across Malaysia with no access to public schools and who currently live in poor conditions, many growing NGOs and charities such as Dignity, World Vision Malaysia, and Teach For Malaysia have enabled thousands of children to receive schooling or other education program alternatives. For many, this is ultimately a life-changing factor, helping them develop industry-required skills that they would have otherwise never been exposed to, allowing these youths to head into a future where they can find a career with stable income. Following the principles of ‘teaching the man to fish instead of giving the man a fish’, enabling those in poverty with tools to provide for themselves is the most sustainable method to free them from the bounds of their poverty. 

Although education does not guarantee financial safety for the less fortunate, it can empower them to begin their adulthoods with the equal opportunities or skills needed to join the workforce, which is in turn crucial to closing the wealth gap in our nation and reducing the social inequalities that come with the status of poverty.