COMMENT | Makcik Faridah and the vicious cycle of poverty

COMMENT | Makcik Faridah has been selling apam for more than five decades. She operates her business from her old kitchen, alone. Besides caring for her 80-something-year-old husband, she also takes care of her five grandchildren.

Since her children and their spouses work full time to make ends meet, they are forced to burden their old mother to nanny their children whenever needed.

Makcik Faridah’s children do not have a good educational background. Among her five children, only one received a grade two in SPM and was offered a diploma course. Growing up in a household where both parents have very basic literacy, the offer was...