Benedict Weerasena

This book proposes to assess and address urban poverty in Malaysia. As Malaysia emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, decades of progress in successful poverty reduction have been reversed, especially in urban areas nationwide. Lockdown measures resulted in rising unemployment and underemployment, decreased salaries, and reduced household incomes, all of which contributed to elevated levels of poverty. In comparison with the rural poor, the urban poor bore the brunt of the reversal due to widespread business closures that impacted informal business activity in cities, the inability to transition to remote working arrangements, a substantial reduction in salaries and wages, increased urban food insecurity, and tight quarters in low-cost housing projects. The approach the authors embrace is to move away from the idea of providing the urban poor with the resources they do not have, but rather to promote reforms that can place them in the conditions to earn the resources they believe they need. The book's motto is: social mobility through entrepreneurship. This research project was initiated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to Malaysia and Brunei, in the person of H. E. Mr Pascal Gr goire, and jointly conducted by the Center for Market Education and Bait Al-Amanah. The authors: Benedict Weerasena is the Research Director of Bait Al Amanah (House of Trust). Carmelo Ferlito is the CEO of the Center for Market Education (CME). H. E. Pascal Gr goire, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Malaysia and Brunei, provided a foreword to the book.

EduCity, built as an integrated learning hub, is a constituent part of Malaysia’s general programme to enhance its reputation as a regional centre for higher education. Located in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, on a 305-acre catalyst development housing seven higher education institutions, EduCity aims to become a best-in-class higher education destination and at the same time provide talent to support economic activities in Iskandar Malaysia. With over 3,500 students currently enrolled, EduCity is moving towards its goal of having 16,000 students by 2025. Its proximity to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur provides it with a large population of potential students, although attracting academic staff to work there remains a challenge. Other challenges that EduCity faces revolve around the provision of facilities and support services, coordination of courses on offer, and coordination between the entity that runs the site — EduCity Iskandar Sdn Bhd (EISB) — and the universities.