The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia

Author: Muhammad Abdul Khalid
New Pb249 pp.
Subjects: Malaysia, Politics
Condition: Good
Publisher: MPH Publishing
Published: 2014

This book provides an alternative insight to the debate on inequality in Malaysia, by focusing on the distribution of wealth or assets, rather than income. Despite tremendous increase in national income, the wealth gap in Malaysia is alarmingly high and extremely skewed. For instance, the top 0.2 per cent of depositors in ASB has about 1,133 times more than the bottom 80 per cent of depositors combined. This gap is echoed by the fact that approximately two-thirds of Malaysian workers earn less than RM3,000 per month, and about 90 per cent of Malaysians have nearly zero savings. The current policies are not facilitating improvements in this wealth gap, which could lead to aristocracy where birth, not hard work or talent and effort, matter the most in wealth accumulation.

This book explores possible policy interventions that can be undertaken to ensure that economic growth is equitably shared, which is vital for a stable and prosperous society.

 

Muhammed Abdul Khalid is the Director of Research at a local think tank in Kuala Lumpur. He was formerly the Head of Economics for a capital market regulator; a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia; a Research Fellow at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.