He said under the New Economic Policy introduced in 1970, plenty of opportunities were created for lower-income people to leverage on the nation’s wealth. However, some of them had used it as a way to make easy profits, he added.

He said these were among issues that prevented the success of the country’s policies.

“When they were given contracts and such, they sold them. Eventually, when the money they received had finished, they remained poor as before,” he said at a gathering of the prime minister and strategic partners of the rural development ministry here today.

Mahathir urged the low-income group to seize opportunities provided by the government under the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 to reduce the income gap between urban and rural areas.

He asserted that the various ways created by the government to improve the economy of this low-income group would not succeed if they were unwilling to use the opportunities given.

“We found that many of them who received these opportunities have succeeded. But many have not used this opportunity to improve their lives.

“This is the problem that we are facing and we need to make it clear to all parties that there will be no improvement without effort.

“If we don’t use every opportunity given, then we will not be able to overcome the poverty issue in the rural areas,” he said.

Mahathir said advanced technology, including the online marketplace, could help rural small business operators to expand their market.

“The online marketplace is a new approach to sell products. Today, we can sell our local products to the whole world,” he said.

Mahathir believed if the opportunities were utilised fully, the income gap between the urban and rural areas would be reduced and Malaysia’s vision to become a developed nation by 2030 would be realised.

At the event, the strategic partners of the ministry, comprising corporate bodies and government-linked companies, contributed RM11.4 million for the various programmes under the ministry. Present was minister Rina Mohd Harun.