Jan 16 2008
MIC hotline to start in April
One of the positive outcome from Hindraf rally is the plan by MIC to set up a hotline, which was to take 6 months to set up. No reason was given then for the extremely long during. Now, SV says its part of their modernisation of the MIC HQ as well. The call centre is expected to be ready by April.
MIC also said there will be a special committee…
By K. Harinderanharinderan@nst.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC is setting up a hotline call centre at its headquarters here to address problems faced by Indians in the country.
"The centre, which will be fully operational in April, will be manned by professionals who will record and refer the problems received from the community to the relevant offices within the MIC," MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said yesterday. "We are modernising the MIC headquarters in line with our objective to have a new outlook in facing the general election."
He said the future for Indians was bright under the leadership of Prime Minster Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who was receptive to problems facing the community.
He said a vote for the opposition in the general election would be detrimental to the nation's progress.
Only the MIC could cater to socio-economic needs of the Indian community and developments. Incidents in the past two months had been detrimental to the hard work and position of the Indians, he added.
Samy Vellu, who is also the works minister, said he would be asking for an allocation of RM3.8 billion for new projects this year. This is because its present allocation has run out. "The billions allocated by the government last year have been reduced to a mere RM20."
He said this after launching the 6th annual Ponggal celebration which was attended by over 800 people at Menara Kuala Lumpur. Colourful earthen pots, sugar cane and visitors in traditional Indian outfits added colour to the festivities.
Ponggal, which has been celebrated over the last 5,000 years, originated from Tamil Nadu in India and is observed by Hindus to thank God for a bountiful harvest.
"I am lucky to be here for the festival and experience first-hand a facet of the Indian culture," said Elizabeth Heise, 74, a tourist from Holland.
The event was organised by Putera MIC. Putera MIC national co-ordinator P. Kamalanathan said a similar event was organised in Chennai, India, this year under the theme "The Colours of Ponggal from Menara KL" to highlight the unity and understanding of the various races in Malaysia.
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I reckon this hotline is not going to serve the purpose that much. Issue is not in transmitting the details of the problems, rather on how those in power handled/handling them for the ppl.
The necessary thing wd be to publicise all the requests/complaints that ppl have made thus far and response to each of them. No need hotline to accumulate more and more complaints to increase the # of “IN”, while “OUT” remains poor, therefore implicating further inefficiency.
Publishing account for all the funds received/spent is key. Reply requests that are uncalled for as not supportable and publish them so that it’s not repeated.
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