The Seputeh MP said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has to move beyond its agenda of political survival and do more for the affected people.
“As an elected representative in Kuala Lumpur, I am most concerned about the Unicef report on the increase in unemployment amongst the low-income urban households, which doubled in the Klang Valley from September to December last year.
“We can safely forecast the unemployment rates to climb this year especially when the government had imposed the latest movement control order and declared emergency rule, simultaneously,” she said in a statement today.
Kok also criticised the government’s lack of action.
“So far, not much has been done except for Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s announcement that it will allow hawkers to put up stalls at any place they wished.
“Further, (Prime Minister) Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government will donate 5,700 packets of rice to the poor on Federal Territory Day, on top of the various one-off handouts to the poor.
“This kind of piecemeal approach will not resolve the increase in urban poverty in Kuala Lumpur and in the Klang Valley,” she said.
She added that many economic sectors in the Klang Valley were currently facing a shortage of workers and suggested that the government take a proactive approach by engaging all relevant stakeholders, including the Kuala Lumpur MPs and Pakatan Harapan state governments.
“For a start, the PN government should revoke the state of emergency. Undoubtedly, the proclamation of emergency will deter investors.”
Further, she urged Muhyiddin to resume parliamentary sittings to allow elected representatives to participate in debates and to take part in issues such as unemployment, urban poverty, among others.
The Unicef report titled “Families on the Edge” said unemployment rates among low-income urban households in Malaysia have increased twofold in the Klang Valley during the conditional lockdown imposed last year.
A survey of 500 households in Kuala Lumpur’s low-cost flats found that unemployment had increased from 7% in September to 15% in December, with one in three adults in these households being without a job.
The poverty rate for families led by females or disabled persons was also especially high, where nearly half of them were living in poverty, the report said.