Subjective poverty as perceived lasting socio-economic insecurity during the MCO and Covid19 Pandemic / Azhana Othman, Khalilah Ibrahim and A.Jajang W. Mahri

Malaysia is now focusing on uplifting the quality of life of the bottom 40 percent of households B40. The transmission of COVID-19 prompted the government to implement MCO 2.0, resulting in several economic sectors, and opportunities for jobs are affected. The low- income earners are more likely to suffer income loss because of the movement control order (MCO) due to being daily rated, forced to take unpaid leave, or unemployed. The pandemic raised many insecurities such as personal, health, economic and social. Due to the pandemic, somehow, those formerly in the T20 group partly have become M40, and partly those in the M40 group have become B40 group. At the same time, those in the B40 group became increasingly poor. Many are still suffering even though the government has channelled various forms of assistance. Commonly, the poverty measurement methods are from the perspective of parties involved in policy making or researchers but neglect the views of poor people themselves. Researchers should not only view poverty from the outside, which is regarded as incomplete; it is recommended that it can be undertaken from the perspective of the poor themselves. Subjective Poverty is an individual’s assessment of their welfare status on whether they are poor based on their well-being evaluation. It complements objective measures and offers new avenues and opportunities for analysis. The purpose of this study is to explore subjective poverty as experiences of insecurity among the B40 household income group. Twenty-five long-standing B40 households were interviewed. The study finds that poverty and related factors give rise to a sense of insecurity to which respondents react effectively with apprehension and anxiety.