Activation Policies for the Poor in OIC Member States
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Malaysia, the government has also sought to target reductions in the number of households and
individuals in poverty.
Poor households are recorded in EKasih, which is a database recording low income households. The
system is used to assist planning, implementing and monitoring of poverty reduction programs.
Households eligible to register for EKasih have an income of less than RM1,000 per month (US$298)
for people in rural areas and RM1,500 per month (US$447) for residents in urban areas.
The 10th plan sets a target to reduce the poverty incidence rate from 3.8% to 2% by 2015. To
achieve this target requires 132,000 households to be moved out of poverty of which 47,000 have
been directly targeted through the Akhiri Zaman Miskin (1AZAM) programme as part of the Prime
Minister led Government Transformation Programme (GTP). The objective of GTP is to transform
the government to be more effective in its delivery of services and achieve. Under the GTP six
National Key Results Areas were identified of which raising the living standards of low income
households was one.
3.2.2 Design and performance of the current activation policies and programmes
The Ministry of Human Resources plays a key role in overseeing and regulating the labour market
(for example through minimum wage legislation) as well as defining the countries labour market
programmes, in particular Malaysia’s PES which is delivered through JobsMalaysia. As set out below,
JobMalaysia does not have a direct remit to tackle poverty but part of its budget and support
programmes are specifically used to tackle poverty alleviation.
The government tackles poverty alleviation through the combined action of a number of
Government departments and agencies under the 1AZAM programme. The 1AZAM programme
coordinates the approach and reporting of programmes tackling poverty. 1AZAM has seen
significant results. The objective of the programme is to provide income generating opportunities to
low-income people. During 2013 the following results were achieved:
 Increased the number of new participants in the 1AZAM Programme to 38,663 (vs. target of
35,100)
 Increased the income of 18,249 1AZAM participants by RM300 for any three months (vs. target of
17,060)
 Enrolled 39,282 1AZAM participants in financial literacy programme (vs. target of 35,100)
 Trained and developed 1,000 woman entrepreneurs (vs. target of 1,000)
 Collaborated with 34 NGOs and Community Service Organisations (CSOs) in delivering 1AZAM
programme (vs. target of 25 NGOs and CSOs)
Job search support
The PES is provided by JobsMalaysia. The core service is an automated online job matching system
provided by the Ministry of Human Resources. The system was launched in 2002 and open to all
Malaysian citizens. It enables jobseekers to register and search vacancies and employers to register
their vacancies. The system then notifies jobseekers and employers of suitable matches. Individuals
that register do not need to be unemployed, so this system can help individuals move into better
employment. The portal is free for employers. Employers are encouraged to register their vacancies.
JobsMalaysia is set an annual target of the number of individuals that it seeks to move into
employment. For 2014 this was the achievement of 220,000 jobs through the portal and support
services.
As of November 2014, the JobsMalaysia portal had placed just over 39,000 jobseekers and had
registered over 132,000 new jobseekers during the year. The portal also had nearly 13,000
employers registered.