PETALING JAYA: The Poverty Eradication Foundation (YBK) has suggested the government reactivate the proposal on establishing a ‘one per cent club’ to eradicate hardcore poverty in the country.
Its chairman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Sakom said the one per cent club was one of the resolutions made at the Roundtable Session on Poverty Eradication: Role of the Third Sector held today.
He said the proposal had been agreed upon by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1996 when he was Finance Minister, but it could not be implemented at the time.
“Efforts to eradicate poverty require a huge fund, so we suggest a synergy among the private sector players to contribute to a fund with the aim of obtaining a match for the poverty eradication initiative.
“So, we call on government-linked companies and foreign companies in Malaysia to place one per cent of their profits into a fund that is managed by the government, whereby the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or other associations can contribute to the fund,” he told a press conference after the roundtable session at the YBK head office here today.
According to YBK, there are an estimated 118,000 hardcore poor in the country.
Representatives from 50 organisations, including the Selangor Zakat Board, NGOs, and academicians participated in the roundtable session, which passed 14 resolutions.
Zainal Abidin said all the resolutions will be tabled at a convention in conjunction with World Poverty Day at the Movenpick Convention Centre, KLIA, this Oct 17.
