Touching on a United Nations report which said the percentage of low-income earners in Sarawak is higher than the national-level figure, he said the methodology to measure the poverty rate should be checked.

He said this was because even at the national level, poverty had already decreased.

“GDP (gross domestic product) is gross total income divided by population.

“But what we want to know now is about real poverty and absolute poverty. As for absolute poverty, we have decreased it,” he said during “A Dinner With Community” event here tonight.

He explained that absolute poverty means that a person has nothing, but the people in rural Sarawak have land, which is an asset.

“They do not have a high income because they have yet to monetise their assets. Why can’t they monetise their assets? Because they lack knowledge. That is all,” he said.

That is why the state government is emphasising education of the people as with knowledge, the people can learn to transform or monetise their assets.

It was reported by a national English daily on Wednesday that UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Issues Philip Alston had compiled a report which said the percentage of low-income earners in Sarawak is higher than the national-level figure.

At the national level, 8.8% of households in Malaysia have a monthly income of less than RM2,000.

“The situation is more dire in certain states,” said the report, which pointed out that in Sarawak, 15.5% of households have a total family monthly income of less than RM2,000.