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I'm a supporter of non-targeted aid and universal basic income. Here are my thoughts why it makes sense to me. This will be a thread.
Like many people, I somewhat unexpectedly fell on hard times due to COVID-19. Right at the tail-end of 2019 I was actually earning a salary that put me at the peak of M40 earnings, very close to being T20.
Work stress was literally on the verge of killing me though, so I switched careers to a much lower paid but less stressful job. I budgeted the remains of my 2019 salary in such a way that I would be able to financially survive 2020 even with my new, much lower salary.
However, what I had budgeted for was a "normal" year. 2020 is NOT a normal year.
The majority of wage earners in Malaysia are literally one crisis or emergency away. I was prepared for it, but it still hit me hard.
The majority of wage earners in Malaysia are literally one crisis or emergency away. I was prepared for it, but it still hit me hard.
The first round of Prihatin aid came, and as I was not working during MCO (and therefore not earning a single sen), I applied for it.
I did not get it because they retroactively declared that people with a registered business were ineligible.
I did not get it because they retroactively declared that people with a registered business were ineligible.
My cousin, who sells kuih and drinks and a stall in a rural part of Sarawak and could not gain any earnings during MCO was also deemed ineligible.
We applied and didn't get it. But here's the thing: being able to even apply is a privilege.
We applied and didn't get it. But here's the thing: being able to even apply is a privilege.
Many Malaysians living in poverty would likely not have had the means to apply, as it requires an internet connection and the experience/knowledge to navigate a somewhat convoluted government portal. So even before the process starts, they're eliminated due to lack of access.
There's also the question of dignity. When you force a person in poverty to prove that they're "poor enough" to need financial assistance, you are stripping them of their dignity. Poverty is not inherently shameful, but society often forces shame onto the poor.
Poverty exists as proof of society's failure to provide fair and adequate means of living to every member of that society... yet the poor are often made to believe that poverty is their fault and that they're so bad at living that they need to be saved by collective benevolence.
Targeted aid feeds into this situation. In targeted aid, a person has to prove they need aid by divulging personal details of their lives that society often judges as failures - the failure to work well, the failure to be healthy, the failure to provide for dependents.
Targeted aid also puts the responsibility of accessing aid very heavily on the person that needs it. If a person is working 16 hours a day and lacks both online and physical access to the pathway to applying for aid, how the hell can they even begin the process?
Universal aid makes it easier for everyone who needs it to get it. It maintains the sense of dignity as it doesn't force people to be categorized as lacking the means to live to an arbitrary acceptable standard. It also means less resources are spent vetting applications.
"But universal aid means someone who DOESN'T need the money can access it too!"
Just because they can access it, doesn't mean they will. There will still be hoops to go through. If you earn 40k a month would you bother going through red tape to get a small basic add-on?
Just because they can access it, doesn't mean they will. There will still be hoops to go through. If you earn 40k a month would you bother going through red tape to get a small basic add-on?
And even if the hoops are minimal enough that a person earning 40k per month would still sign up to access the aid, so what? It's a small price overall to pay to elevate the majority in need, and the money will likely get circulated back into the economy via personal spending.
Don't pretend that you care about people living in poverty when your main criticism of non-targeted aid is that "rich people will get the money too". You're not thinking of how to help - you're just thinking of how NOT to lose money.
