A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 significant. For example, the official 2016 poverty rate for Kuala Lumpur was 0 per cent, yet 27 per cent of households earned less than the Central Bank (Bank Negara) estimate of the living wage for the city in 2018.15 A survey of people living in low-income apartments, carried out in 2018, found 7 per cent of people living below the national poverty line, 85 per cent in relative poverty and 99.7 per cent of children in relative poverty. 16 One soup kitchen director said she served up to 700 people a night, and that more than 40 soup kitchens operated in Kuala Lumpur. None of this points to a city that has eliminated poverty. 12. The Government should institute far-reaching reforms of the social protection system to ensure that the needs of people living in poverty are comprehensively addressed. That will in turn benefit the country as a whole. The Government should adopt a comprehensive social protection floor for all its citizens and provide essential support for non-citizens. That would be consistent with recent moves related to the preparation of the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, the adoption of shared prosperity and leaving no-one behind as key policy themes, the Government’s recognition of the need for serious reforms and the ongoing debates over the importance of strengthening social cohesion and national unity. Such reforms would make Malaysia more competitive internationally and promote economic growth that relies less on the exploitation of cheap labour and more on a healthy and well-educated workforce, while improving productivity and reducing tax losses. They would also improve the well-being of the least well-off members of all racial and ethnic groups, reduce community tensions and eliminate some of the factors conducive to national discord. 13. A new approach towards long-neglected populations, who face disparate rates of poverty, is urgently needed. Even under the official line, indigenous peoples have much higher rates of poverty than the general population and, despite promises by politicians, continue to experience widespread violations of their rights. The Government should also address the plight of the millions of non-citizens disproportionately affected by poverty, including migrants, refugees, stateless people and unregistered Malaysians, who are systematically excluded from official poverty figures, neglected by policymakers and often effectively barred from access to basic services. 14. Poverty eradication programmes must also reflect the fact that poverty affects all races and ethnicities. The colonial period generated sharp inequalities along racial lines and race still pervades how many people think and talk about poverty. Relative income inequality between Bumiputeras (ethnic Malays and non-Malay indigenous people) and other groups has narrowed since the adoption of the New Economic Policy in 1970, 17 but as of 2016, Bumiputeras still had a higher poverty rate than the Chinese or Indian populations.18 Nevertheless, nearly six per cent of Chinese households nationwide had to scrape by on less than RM 2,000 (US$ 492) per month in 201619 and important research shows that Indians, who also suffered great exploitation during the colonial period, have not benefited from much development planning and many poverty eradication programmes. 20 15. The Government should also improve access to data and other information on poverty. Its persistent refusal to provide effective access to such information, and in some cases the complete failure to even collect important data, significantly hampers research, policymaking and poverty alleviation. 15 16 17 18 19 20 4 World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019: Making Ends Meet, p. 71. UNICEF Malaysia, “Children without: a study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur” (February 2018), pp. 24 and 43–44. The survey included data from 966 heads of household and over 2,000 children in 16 low-income locations in Kuala Lumpur and 1 in nearby Selangor. Martin Ravallion, “Ethnic inequality and poverty in Malaysia since 1969, National Bureau of Economic Research, working paper No. 25640 (March 2019), pp. 13–14. Ministry of Economic Affairs, Mid-Term Review of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, 2016–2020, appendix, p. A-23. Department of Statistics, Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report 2016, table 1.10, p. 51. Centre for Public Policy Studies, “The case of low income Malaysian Indians” (2017).