A/HRC/44/40/Add.3 • As per recorded in the eKasih database, as of 29 th February 2020, the number of poor HOH is 137,852 and the number of extreme poor HOH is 44,855, making a total of 182,707 HOH. As a comparison, the numbers of Head of Household (HOH) recorded in eKasih has shown a decreasing trend as follows: Years 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Extreme Poor 79,607 75,480 59,924 44,666 43,055 Poor 142,958 142,135 140,842 142,099 135,172 • Therefore, Malaysia categorically disagree the statement “officials consistently claimed that poverty had been virtually eliminate with only pockets remaining”. Paragraph 5 The use of a very low and entirely unrealistic poverty line obscures the more troubling reality that millions of people, in both urban and rural areas across the country, scrape by on very low incomes with tenuous access to food, shelter, education, and healthcare, and limited ability to exercise civil and political rights. Comments from the Government of Malaysia: • The Poverty Line Income (PLI) used to derive this poverty incidence is currently set at RM980 at national level and calculated based on the basic requirements for a household to live healthily and actively, which is more than the PLI targeted in the Sustainable Development Goal 1 at USD1.25 per day. This PLI is also higher for Sabah at RM1,180 and Sarawak RM1,020 to take into account additional costs, such as transportation. However at implementation level, especially when disbursing assistance, a household’s PLI takes into account its location, household size and other demographic factors. This may result in a higher household PLI than the national PLI. Hence, assistance is tailor-made according to the needs of the recipients, based on the profiling through the eKasih system which is an innovative initiative by the Government to identify the right target groups. • With regards to the assertion that Malaysians have “…limited ability to exercise civil and political rights”, this is rebutted by the universal participation of 82.3% of Malaysians in the last General Election which saw for the first time a peaceful change in Federal Administration since Independence. Paragraph 6 Denying the scale of poverty has exacerbated the problem by justifying significant underinvestment in poverty reduction, stymying research and analysis into the drivers of poverty, encouraging a widespread misunderstanding of who is poor, and allowing a fragmented, poorly targeted, and inadequately funded social protection system to limp haplessly along. NGOs have stepped in to fill the gap and provide much needed services to low-income people, yet these admirable efforts are no substitute for official policies and action. It is, however, promising that since the visit, economists, political leaders, academics, the national human rights commission (SUHAKAM), and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, have all voiced support for the adoption of a new poverty measure. Comments from the Government of Malaysia: • The Government is committed to address the remaining pockets of poverty and deprivation across regions and communities. The Government is not oblivious to the rising cost of living faced by Malaysians, especially the bottom 40% of income group. As such, a significant proportion of Federal operating expenditure is allocated for subsidies and social assistance, cutting across energy, food, healthcare and education. In 2018, a total of RM27.5 billion was set aside for this purpose, comprising 11.9% of total operating expenditure. 4