Title: The Abundance of Lack

By: Teh Shu Ki, Arati Katirasan and Aneeysa Reduan

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including
food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not
having enough money. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor.
Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is
not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty has
many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been
described in many ways. Despite the many definitions, there is one thing that is
certain- poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined,
it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention.
Taking poverty into consideration is what the rightful society has done ever
since it started. However, since then, people of the Earth started to only take a
glance at such a problem and shrugs it away, thinking that overcoming poverty
is an insurmountable responsibility to take on. In order to change the minds of
these individuals, taking the causes of this ongoing problem into account might
be the right step forward for our society to eradicate the word poverty itself. The
primary causes of global poverty however vary from country to country based
on their economic and financial successes. To put it simply, countries with low
economic and poor financial performances face much higher rates of poverty
and countries with a high financial status globally face the vice versa. The main
causes of poverty occurring in the 21st century can be broken down into two.
The first being war and political instability, and second but not least, being
discrimination and social inequality.
During the occurrence of war and serious political upheaval, the individuals’
security and safety are essential for their subsistence. Such violent conditions
force these individuals to flee and abandon whatever they have left in order to
seek peace and harmony for the sake of their family and friends. Because of the
many sacrifices they forcefully have to make, they are left with nothing and
have to start everything from scratch to start a new, more peaceful life. In other
words, their living circumstances provide enough reason to describe them as
facing poverty. Global poverty starts as millions of people along with their
families migrate to other countries or try to suit themselves to the country’s
condition even though it is facing heavy political instability or war. This is why
war and bad political insecurities are one of the major causes of global poverty,
especially in the 20th and 21st century.
 The next leading cause of poverty is discrimination and social inequality.
Definition-wise, poverty and inequality don’t share the same meaning.
However, inequality can contribute to the ever growing rate of poverty as
groups with lower social status are precluded from reaching many essential
resources in order to support themselves and their families. Gender
discrimination for example is a major factor that holds women and children in
poverty as unfair distributions in terms of income, opportunities, basic resources
and even rights took a rise even before the early years of the 1800s. Such a
drastic rise clearly took a toll on discriminated gender groups financially, and as
a result further exacerbating the rate of poverty taking place around the world
until today. That is why such problems involving discrimination and social
inequality in one’s country contribute to the rising levels of poverty happening
today.
The best pathway out of poverty is a well-paying job. In order to overcome the
declination of employment levels, the government must create new job
opportunities. To kick-start job growth, the national government should invest
in job-creation strategies such as rebuilding our infrastructure, developing
renewable energy sources, renovating abandoned housing and making other
common-sense investments that create jobs, revitalize neighbourhoods, and
boost our national economy. Raising the minimum wage is also necessary for
reducing poverty, lifting the people of our country out of plight.
Apart from that, the young people from pastoral areas should be backed up
with technical and vocational training as they form the backbone of human
resources. Therefore, skills training should be offered to shape the human
capital to meet industry’s requirements and mount up productivity. Technical
education and vocational training should be mainstreamed only to uplift the
standard of proficiency. This is a key towards providing a workable alternative
to allow the youths to realise their capability according to their own inclination
and talent. Thus, this principle necessitates a renewed focus on upholding the
interests of each and every individual, ensuring no group is marginalised in the
21st century.
In conclusion, poverty is a devastating social problem crippling the community
who wants to live beyond poverty. We must look towards igniting and
mobilising the passion, energy, imagination and idealism of the youth to make a
real difference. It’s our role to join hands with the youth as they are our future.
All we need to do is to eradicate poverty and build a poverty free nation.