PUTRAJAYA: The government will first focus on increasing household income on its way to eradicate poverty.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said they were investing in infrastructures in the hopes to create sustainable income generating programmes.
"Once we get some progress on increasing income level of households, some of the factors taken into account in the multi-dimensional poverty index will improve because it looks at, for example, access to internet, access for health and so on.
"It is given that as income level increases the quality of life also increases. So let's focus on that first," he told reporters after the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCCIM) Power Chat and Official Launching of the 17th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention here today.
He added that infrastructures were not just machines but were income-generating assets for participants or recipients from low-income families.
He was responding to former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had in Parliament questioned the unity government's goal to eradicate hardcore poverty.
He said the approach to wiping out poverty had shifted from solely focusing on household income to addressing multi-dimensional poverty, which includes education, healthcare, basic necessities and overall quality of life.
Muhyiddin said this means that a realistic poverty elimination model must be established first before making promises to eradicate poverty.