JITRA, May 26 — Seven localities in Kedah and three in Perlis have been chosen for the implementation of the Malaysian Family Hardcore Poor Eradication Programme (BMTKM) scheduled to start at the end of this month.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the localities in Kedah involved three villages in five districts while in Perlis, they comprised three villages in three districts.
“The programme is part of objectives in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) which is to eradicate hardcore poverty throughout the country by the end of 2025.
“So today, according to eKasih data from the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU), there are 180,009 hardcore poor families nationwide and in Kedah, there are about 12,000 hardcore poor families,” he said.
He was speaking after attending a briefing session and a visit to the ground in Kubang Pasu district for the implementation of BMTKM in Kampung Kuala Jerlun near here.
Mustapa said 80 localities throughout the country have been identified for phase one of BMTKM which would be implemented holistically involving the target groups regardless of race, religion and political leanings.
He said BMTKM also adopted a bottom-up approach that involved the participation of the grassroots and target groups in the designing of the programme that involved solutions on poverty eradication in a targeted manner and is different for each locality according to the needs of the area.
According to him, the identified hardcore poor will be given certain assistance that will be proposed by local community leaders and after that they will be monitored to ensure that the assistance channeled is used appropriately.
“This is not a new programme, this hardcore poverty eradication programme has been around for a long time, but the difference now is that we are integrated and holistic involving the state and federal governments, community leaders as well as universities.
“We are both implementing this programme with the hope that it will be successful, we want this programme to have continuity so that the hardcore poor come out of the hardcore poor group,” he said.
