Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob
KOTA KINABALU: State Assembly Deputy Speaker Datuk George Ginibun has applauded the State Government’s efforts to eradicate poverty in Sabah.
“I want to offer my heartfelt thanks on behalf of the poor students in Sabah to our Education and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob for launching what would be a first good news for our poor young Sabahans in 2019.
“It is indeed a great piece of news and a small step forward by the Education and Innovation Ministry with the recent announcement to offer Sabah scholarships to 250 poor students to further their studies in vocational courses,” he opined.
“It’s just been a week into the New Year and we see another positive move by the Sabah State Government in an effort to reduce poverty in Sabah,” he said, adding that Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony had said the State’s development, particularly in the rural areas, needs to be further increased to ensure the socio-economic gap between the urban and rural areas can be narrowed.
“This is because the State is still number one in terms of poverty rate and the highest in terms of joblessness in the country which is at 2.9 per cent and 5.5 percent respectively,” he pointed out.
According to him, the minister disclosed that the State Government aims to increase the present pace of development in the State with the assistance of the Federal Government.
“I’m sure the Sabah Government through certain ministries will continue to come up with more initiations to help reduce poverty in Sabah from now on. Sadly to say, poverty in Sabah is amongst one of the worse in Malaysia and there are simply not enough time and effort to eradicate poverty here.
“We faced a multidimensional situation when it comes to poverty in Sabah and single factor solution is only one step forward. Education is definitely one of the main culprits to tackle amongst the hard core poor in our rural areas,” said Ginibun who disclosed that he too had a hard time growing up as his family was poor.
The Deputy State Assembly Speaker pointed out that according to Ted K. Bradshaw, The Academic Senate of University of California, comprehensive development efforts for individuals, based on strategic efforts toward self-sufficiency through education is one form of reduction of poverty that is very effective for any country in the long term.
“I can totally relate to Ted K. Bradshaw studies as I have come from an extreme hard core poor situation when l was growing up and education surely must be one of the main contributing factors to bringing me to where I am today.
“I am extremely passionate in the topic of poverty in Sabah and I would sincerely offer my assistance in terms of advice, support and encouragement to any efforts to reduce poverty here,” explained Ginibun.
He expressed hope to see more policies and programs by the State Government to help the poor in Sabah and hope that related NGOs and the corporate sectors in Sabah can also play in a bigger role to help in poverty reduction.
“Together we can provide a brighter future for all poor Sabahans,” he added