KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will leave for South Korea today to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting, after concluding a parliamentary session dominated by questions on Malaysia’s trade deal with the United States and the nation’s poverty rate.
His departure comes just days after the conclusion of the 47th Asean Summit on 28 October.
Before leaving the Dewan Rakyat, Anwar fielded a final question from Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Independent–Kuala Kangsar) on the government’s efforts to address poverty, including hardcore poverty.
The prime minister spent much of the session responding to repeated queries from MPs and backbenchers regarding the US trade deal.
“Thank you, Kuala Kangsar. I thought the questions were finished. I need to go to Korea now,” he said, before proceeding to answer the query nonetheless.
Anwar said Putrajaya is considering a unified system through MyKad that lists all types of aid – from federal, state, and zakat sources – in a single database.
“This will enable authorities to know exactly how much each household receives and avoid overlaps,” he said.
States with higher poverty incidence, such as Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu, Sabah, and Sarawak, received the largest share of assistance, he added.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
