The Political Economy of Poverty Reduction in Malaysia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12672338
AutoresM N Asadullah (0000-0001-8047-5548, M. Niaz Asadullah is the corresponding author () and is affiliated with Monash University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, University of Reading, Berkshire, UK, and IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany., autor de correspondencia), Jincy Joseph (0009-0001-4517-4034, Monash University Malaysia), Jeron Joseph (Jeron Joseph is affiliated with Monash University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.), James Chin (0000-0003-3631-9913, James Chin is affiliated with University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.)
Año2023
Volumen23
Número2
Páginas127-151
Fecha de publicación2023-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaProgress in Development Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1464-9934 • E-ISSN: 1477-027X
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14649934231151486
OpenAlexW4376605783
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas38

This article critically examines regional differences in poverty reduction in Malaysia with a focus on political economy factors. More specifically, we focus on the East–West regional divide in income poverty, between four historically poorer the West Malaysia and two states of Eastern Malaysia–Sabah and Sarawak during 1970–2019. Between 1970 and 1990, Malaysia implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP), arguably the longest and most ambitious race-based affirmative action programme in the world. In this context, we also assess whether and how its affirmative action policies succeeded in closing regional gaps. During the NEP, Sarawak saw greater and earlier reductions in income poverty and inequality than the resource-rich states of Sabah and Terengganu, where poverty largely persisted. We argue that politics played a key role in explaining Sabah’s different trajectory vis-à-vis Sarawak, Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. The ethnicity-targeted policies of the NEP meant the Malays and Muslims were given priority over all other groups. The faster decline in poverty in Sarawak coincided with Muslim control since 1970. On the other hand, when Sabah was under the non-Muslim rule, there was little progress on poverty alleviation. The situation reversed when Sabah fell under Muslim control. The key lesson is that politics do matter during the implementation phase of poverty alleviation programme in Malaysia

Affirmative action · Context (archaeology · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Inequality · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Poverty reduction · Asian Studies and History · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Natural Resources and Economic Development