The Role of Institutions in the Politics of Poverty Eradication Programmes: The Case of Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

Poverty is not a recent issue for the international community. From Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), poverty has always been the primary objective for most countries. The ASEAN community also places a central concern over the poverty issue in the region. Malaysia, as a founding member of ASEAN, has successfully reduced the poverty rate in the past four decades. In 1970, the country’s poverty rate was recorded at 49%, but after the introduction of the New Economic Policy along with other poverty alleviation programmes, Malaysia managed to reduce the poverty rate to 0.4% in 2016. While efforts by the government to combat poverty is commendable, poverty alleviation performance, however, seems to be uneven across states in Malaysia, especially in Sabah, a state in East Malaysia. The state is rich with resources such as petroleum, timber, palm oil and other natural resources but, ironically, remains one of the poorest states in the country. This state received a considerable amount of financial support in poverty eradication programmes by the previous United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)-led Barisan Nasional federal government. Although the state government managed to reduce poverty, its performance was not impressive as compared to other states in the country. Like most social policies, poverty eradication programmes are a political process because they involve a substantial amount of state resources and are fraught with certain political interests. Hence, this paper attempts to explore the politics of poverty eradication programmes in Sabah under the Barisan Nasional government. This study will employ institutional theory to understand the challenges of coordinating and implementing poverty eradication programmes.