Midin Salad
By Yu Ji
“Demand far outstrips supply. At a public housing in Matang (close to Kuching), there are currently 2,512 applicants vying for just 311 units. That’s an applicant-units-available ratio of 8:1. Providing enough affordable housing is a monumental task with demands that are ever growing.” - Tuan Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
Voting patterns will again be split between urban and rural areas, perhaps more so than ever before.
AFFORDABILITY is such an unattractive word.
It neither rolls off the tongue nor is the word usually part of daily conversation.
The word means cost in relation to whether you and I are able to pay for things. In conversation, affordability is usually used to imply low cost.
Affordability will be an underlying theme in the coming months, chief of all during the campaigns in the general election.
This will be a period when politicians promise to make affordability greater among more of us; a time when we will hear much promises on bridging the gap between rural and urban affordability.
Decision long made: A farmer putting up Barisan Nasional party flags at his farm house
in Kampung Gedong, Serian, about 90km from Kuching in this file pic. Where you live
is a good indication of which side you vote for. For rural voters like this farmer, there
is less risk in the old and tested.
In Sarawak, there is a gap, make no mistake, it is a large one in fact. The affordability gap is also closer than you might like to think.
Drive, say, 30 minutes outside of any urban centre, and low affordability is a fact of life easily observed.
Sure, in the heart of Kuching city, affor- dability might seem generally quite high. Here, there are about 700,000 people, making up hundreds of thousands of households.
At present, each household in the state capital has an average combined income of above RM6,000.
But there are a total of 2.5 million people in Sarawak. The rural-urban ratio is esti- mated at 50:50 presently, which means there are about 1.25 million people in rural areas.
It is at these areas where Sarawak’s poor still largely remain.
By the year 2020, the rural-urban ratio would stand at 40:60, best estimates show.
Urbanites would make up the majority in Sarawak.
Ensuring there is enough affordable housing in urban centres will be the Government’s greatest challenge (alongside job creation).
Earlier this month at a gathering of real estate developers, Assistant Housing Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah had this to say in relation to affordable housing.
“Demand far outstrips supply. At a public housing in Matang (close to Kuching), there are currently 2,512 applicants vying for just 311 units. That’s an applicant-units-available ratio of 8:1. Providing enough affordable housing is a monumental task with demands that are ever growing.”
Under state rules, public housing is capped at about RM60,000.
Given the high demand, it should be very apparent that affordability for a great many is much lower than we — you and I, consumers of this newspaper, avid Twitter and Facebook users, iPhone enthusiasts and latte drinkers — would like to assume.
In Sarawak, affordability between the have and have-nots is vast and widening. In fact, where you live reflects your level of income. A postcode gives away your income levels.
About 70% of Sarawakians are from households that have a combined income of under RM6,000. Out of this group, 40% have household incomes under RM1,500.
In the general election, the people’s affordability will determine voting patterns. Again, voting patterns will be split between urban and rural areas, perhaps more so than ever before.
Where you live is a good indication of which side you vote for. For those with higher affordability, they are more likely to take a chance.
It is much easier to vote for change when it entails lesser risk to your already comfortable lifestyle.
But for those with low affordability — who are far-flung and with fewer opportunities — their voting patterns will likely remain conservative.
So while some might be swayed by matters like Bersih 3.0, for the many others tightly constrained by affordability, BR1M has had much more relevance.
The campaign will be on affordability, and it has actually began a long time ago.
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