The founder of Yayasan Chow Kit, Dr Hartini Zainudin, said the issue should be made a priority and that discussions would allow various groups to give their input and find solutions.

She said it was important that children be protected and given the proper care as they were “our most valuable asset”.

Suriana Welfare Society executive director Scott Wong agreed that if there were no open discussions, the matter would just end there and the plight of the poor would be forgotten.

“I am all in for debates or discussing it so that together we can figure out solutions.” He said the discussion should be about discovering the needs of the poor, the main causes of urban poverty, what kept them poor and how they could be helped to break the cycle of poverty.

He said the poor were getting poorer and the rich richer and there was a need to discuss this openly.

Dr Hartini and Wong said this in response to the decision by Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to reject a motion to debate poverty and malnutrition among children living in low-cost housing areas in Kuala Lumpur.

Klang MP Charles Santiago had filed a motion to debate the findings of the report at the current session of the Dewan Rakyat. Pandikar Amin said it was not necessary as various government agencies were already studying the report and that there was no urgency to debate the matter.

The study by the United Nations agency titled “Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur” found that almost all children (99.7%) in low-cost flats in the capital city lived in relative poverty while 7% lived in absolute poverty.

It said the percentage of those suffering from problems linked to malnutrition was alarming.