Poverty poetry aka the National Poverty Summit

Malaysia now,
Is certainly not bereft
Of issues so sordid
As sex scandals,
Corruption and theft

That I was happy to see
That amidst all this s**T
ASLI and CPPS
Held the National Poverty Summit

4 stunning chandeliers,
Hung above a photo
Of a poor woman, child on her lap
A perfect reflection
Of the income gap

Despite that
Real issues were to be discussed
With politicos and the like
And we were all waiting for
The PM to wield the mike

Badawi strode up, smiley and warm
Who would’ve guessed, miles away
A No Confidence vote
Was causing a storm!

“Urban poverty is
Rural povertys reflection”
He spoke of strategies
Headed in the right direction

E-Kasih! Microcredit! Zakat!
Health and education subsidies
He says he has put these in place
Perhaps the man is not such a disgrace

Sulochana Nair
Spoke of all things dire,
Well she didn’t as such,
I just couldn’t rhyme Nair with much.

She spoke with passion and haste
Of all the pain and issues faced
But was pragmatic, and sound
She thinks UN guidelines should be applied to the ground

Then came the MP from Seputeh
Man, shes cool.
Teresa Kok is, in herself,
An antipoverty tool.

Low cost housing provided too far away,
There is nowhere for the kids to play!
From this a healthy society can not grow
Indeed from the crime rate this does show

Next was Selangors new Mentri Besar
Who apologized for his poltical faux pas
His controversial immigrant tax, he says
Was misunderstoond in so many ways

He admitted he was wrong
Which in my mind, is strong
We need more politicians like Khalid Ibrahim
But looking around right now, chances of that
Are certainly grim

There were many others of note,
Dr Ng Yen Yen, I can see how why she got the vote
Walao! The way she described it
Malaysians really deserve more credit

The statistics of which she announced
Were based on definitions already denounced
We cannot be proud
Till we have healthcare and education all round

One thing was missed
Refugees left out of the list
How do we expect to prevent the urban poverty rise
If a large part of them nobody will even recognise?

There was many wise words,
and a few foolish turds
But it was heartening to see live discussion
To see in the audience true passion,
In working towards the end of poverty
Because only then,
we will be truly free.



The above are all those that stood out for me personally, and in no means sums up and shows the most pertinent parts of the summit. It was by the way, well organised and very interesting! And unlike what is going on in most headlines of most newspapers, MSM and otherwise, these are key issues for our country. CPPS/ASLI has done a fabulous job of putting together a poverty fact sheet, a summary of the summit, and the reforms already in place, and those reforms suggested! Its FANTASTIC!

(http://www.cpps.org.my/sub_page.aspx?catID=398&ddlID=401)

I recommend the presentations on the low cost housing. Fascinating!

As Jeffrey Sachs (my favourite economist) says

"We can be the generation to end poverty, but will we?"