Will a rising tide lift all boats?
“...In the past, a total income of RM800–RM1,000 could support six people or more. Nowadays, you can barely support three people, and even that is a nightmare... Malaysia has developed, but the rakyat [people] has been left behind because incomes have not increased.” These are the popular opinions and beliefs among Malaysians who participated in our 2019 joint World Bank-University of Malaya qualitative study on living standards in Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur skyline is emblematic of a modern, rich city, but closer to the ground, a conversation with the Grab car driver tells a different ...