The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economy badly: people are losing jobs and are struggling to feed themselves and the poor are impacted the most. Of them all, women are impacted disproportionately than men because women are more likely to live in poverty than men. This is due to the disposition to work in lower-wage jobs and in the informal economy which provides very limited social protection. Furthermore, women who are illiterate or poor face higher degrees of job insecurity. Women are also burdened with the lion’s share of domestic care work due to the gendered nature of social expectations which further limit their livelihood choices, resulting in long term implications on the economic and social wellbeing of women.
Will the RM35 billion, allocated by the PENJANA short term economic recovery plan that aims to boost the economy and provide aid for the people, really help vulnerable and marginalized communities—the ones living in poverty, workers, the disabled, rural communities, indigenous people as well as women?
PENJANA is a short-term economic recovery plan introduced on 6 June 2020 by our Prime Minister to curb job loss and unemployment during the recovering stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. A total of 40 initiatives are included in the package focusing on “empowering people”, “propelling businesses” and “stimulating the economy”. While we applaud the government for presenting policies and programs which are deemed suitable in creating an enabling ecosystem for workers to return to work after CMCO, we would like to point out that the package does not reflect and address the immediate needs of poor communities.
The problem with PENJANA initiatives is the adoption of digital approaches such as digitalisation of information that have left some of the poor behind. This technology era has allowed all kinds of information to be instantly accessed at our fingertips with the availability of the internet and digital gadgets. While it is benefitting for communities who buy and use smartphones, and have access to the internet, it has largely excluded the poor, especially women. According to a survey from the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), urban internet users are at 70%, while the rural users only account for 30%. The disparity of access to the internet between urban and rural remains high. In the same research, MCMC also found that there were more male internet users compared to female internet users which were 59% and 41% respectively.
Difficulties in accessing the internet, lack of ownership of digital gadgets such as cell phones and computers, and the in-affordability of these gadgets have made digital information inaccessible for the poor and rural communities. This also widens the digital gender gap and deepens existing gender inequalities because women are less likely to own digital gadgets compared to men. This has reinforced the marginalization of people in need, especially for women who have limited or no accessibility and resources to seek information for aid.
As an example, one of the PENJANA initiatives is the reskilling and upskilling classes that are taught using the online platform. How will the poor and rural communities access these classes? The national service job portal will be upgraded, but how will these job opportunities reach the poor and rural communities? Has all the online information been made friendly for the OKU community? Our main question is how can the government ensure that the digital information of PENJANA reaches the marginalized and vulnerable communities as well as to ensure that their welfare is taken care of?
Furthermore, giving urgent financial relief to people in need should be included in PENJANA initiatives, especially for people who have lost their income from the informal sector. Loss of income has led to people being unable to afford food, basic necessities, or even worse, being evicted from rental homes. Jayakumar from Parti Sosialis Malaysia stated that the plan did not address the loss of income for the 1.5 million daily paid workers in the informal sector, who are our retail workers, street vendors, casual labourers and those who work odd jobs.
The underlying root cause in what the poor community is facing is pre-existent poverty. They will remain poor if the government does not look at what is happening on the ground and address their needs immediately. Hence, we would like to propose recommendations as follows for the government to act and make sure no one is left behind.
1. Assuring internet accessibility is only the first of many steps. But for those without access to digital gadgets, these services might as well not exist. We must ensure that PENJANA’s initiatives do not only focus on providing information, as it will further marginalize girls and women who do not have access to those resources. A two-pronged approach is needed to assure full accessibility for everyone and to cater to those who are not online.
2. Immediate financial relief must continue to be provided to the poor community who earn less than RM2,700 especially women from the B40 group, informal sector, and unemployed individuals until July 2021. According to Bank Negara, the minimum living wage of an individual should be at least RM2,700. Workers are struggling to make ends meet with wages lesser than that. Immediate financial relief helps to support living expenses and activate the economy. For example, with aid provided in the form of cash, they can use the money to buy necessities and services from small vendors, mini markets, etc. In other words, economic sectors that suffer from financial loss will get the chance to recover.
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