KK peeps second least happiest in Malaysia, MP at loss for words

23 May 2022

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hing stated that he is disappointed to know that the people of Kota Kinabalu happen to be the second least happiest in the Malaysia

According to the 2021 Happiness Index Report of the Malaysian Urban Rural National Indicators Network on Sustainable Development (MURNInets) as released by the Housing and Local Government.

“Among the 114 districts, cities or municipality surveyed by the authorities, those with a happiness index as high as 100 per cent had included Putatan.

“However, Kota Kinabalu city, which is only around 13 kilometers away from Putatan, turns out to be one of the areas with the lowest happiness index in the country, , with 70.76 per cent, taking the second lowest spot in the entire country after Beaufort at 65.04 per cent.

“I have to say that I am at loss for words by the results of the official investigation report. In the top 10 cities with the lowest happiness index in the country, five of them are districts, cities or municipality in Sabah, namely Beaufort, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Labuan and Beluran,” he stated.

Chan also questioned the standard used in measuring happiness amongst the districts, cities or municipality in Sabah.

“Why is there such a huge variance in data from one to the other? Why do the people of Putatan seem to feel very happy, while the happiness of the people in Beaufort, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Labuan and Beluran seem to be much much lower comparatively?"

It is reported that MURNInets is a set of tools to measure the “sustainability” of these districts, cities, or municipalities.

The survey found that the standard of happiness for Malaysians is mainly having a happy family, good health and living stress-free; on the other hand, people would end up unhappy when they think of money, local government failures, and so on. Simply put, whether a city is livable or not is the key indicator in the said index.

“I can certainly imagine why Kota Kinabalu’s citizens have a very low level of happiness. Examples include crowded public transport, increasing traffic jam, frequent flash floods, dry taps with frequent water cuts and water supply shortages, frequent and sudden cut in electricity, widening wealth gap, high youth unemployment, high prices and high living expenses, etc. With all such things to worry about, perhaps that is why the people here in KK have lesser reason to be happy.

“However, among the top five areas in Sabah with low happiness, there are urban areas (Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan), semi-urban areas (Beaufort), and also rural areas (Beluran).

If that is the case, what is the reason why the people in these different regions are not feeling happier as compared to their counterparts in, say, Putatan? What does Putatan have that these five areas do not have?

“I would like to call upon the leaders of the Sabah government led by GRS and also Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) led by its Mayor to properly study the research results and come up with an answer why does East Malaysia and Sabah account for half of the top 10 cities with the lowest happiness in the country, and how did Kota Kinabalu end up with a happiness score which is the second lowest in the whole of Malaysia?

The study clearly shows that the people here are dissatisfied with the current situation and it ought to be improved.