Journals Information
International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION) Vol. 2(4), pp. 157 - 162
DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020406
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Addressing Poverty through Innovative Policies: A Review of the Malaysian Experience
Azlinda Azman *, Jamalludin Sulaiman , Mohd Taufik Mohamad , Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh , Mohd HaizzanYahaya , Syazwani Drani
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Good health, education, housing and access to the basic needs of life are basic human rights which often the poor are deprived of. Combating poverty is therefore a policy driven approach which requires innovative planning and execution. Since independence in 1957, Malaysia's policy goal focused on developing the infrastructure and improving the agricultural sector of the country. However, the watershed event of May 13, 1969 clearly vilified all previous efforts and recognized the need for a better approach to address issues of poverty, income equality and other basic physical and human rights for national development. Thus, the four long term policies from the New Economic Policy (1971-1990) to the New Economic Model (2011- 2020) and the five-year development plans has been put in placed in order to address poverty issues. Under the policies, there were broad and specific approaches and affirmative programs to alleviate poverty in the country, while working towards making Malaysia a high income nation by 2020, as envisioned in Vision 2020. Each successive policies and development plans saw great improvements in nation building efforts to improve the wellbeing of the population. This paper traces briefly the history of poverty alleviation attempts in Malaysia and discusses the policies and their impacts on the economy and social wellbeing. Each of the policies has their strengths and weaknesses and this paper seeks to share some of the innovative ideas and series of economic reforms to bring Malaysia to the level it is today. The last leg of the journey to achieve Vision 2020 necessitates uplifting of the bottom 40% to the ‘middle income group'. It further concludes on the call for a more rigorous intervention from the social work perspective.
KEYWORDS
Poverty Policy, Malaysia Policies, Poverty Program, Social Work Intervention
Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Azlinda Azman , Jamalludin Sulaiman , Mohd Taufik Mohamad , Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh , Mohd HaizzanYahaya , Syazwani Drani , "Addressing Poverty through Innovative Policies: A Review of the Malaysian Experience," International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION), Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 157 - 162, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020406.
(b). APA Format:
Azlinda Azman , Jamalludin Sulaiman , Mohd Taufik Mohamad , Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh , Mohd HaizzanYahaya , Syazwani Drani (2014). Addressing Poverty through Innovative Policies: A Review of the Malaysian Experience. International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice(CEASE PUBLICATION), 2(4), 157 - 162. DOI: 10.13189/ijrh.2014.020406.