Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Looks like some other movement have highlighted similar issues in their protests last year.
Anyway, its been “several months” since the 7 issues were highlighted, and all the community got so far is reassurances and promises that temples won’t be demolished, and public holiday for Thaipusam in KL and Putrajaya. Nothing related to the 7 issues, are they?
How about Tamil schools’ status, reevaluating the 3% equity target to 10%, body-snatching, effect of conversion, death in lock-ups, temple demolition, creation of similar bodies like Tabung Haji for other religions, creation of Religious Affairs Dept, discounts for housing for the poor, thousands of stateless people etc. MIC should have been proactive instead of waiting for more problems and creating another “list” 5 years down the lane.
Agreed, this seems to be good start, but again the threat is there. The call is “vote for us again and we will try to implement these plans”. So, should the community give them another 5 years to fulfill this promise? can the previous records of 50 years be used to make the judgment?
What disappoints me the most is that this 7 issues has been around for more than a decade, since TDM time. Every time Malaysian plan is designed and developed, things are planned, but nothing happens. MIC did not take proactive steps to detect the rot and take preventive action. Now, they have no choice but to admit their failure in public and eat the humble pie. The fault is solely on MIC. They are the sole representatives of the Indian community. They know the ins and outs of the system. They have been complacent for long and now are paying the price for it. Question is, how heavy will the punishment be?
| Seven issues affecting the Indianshttp://malaysiakini.com/news/77737 |
| Feb 3, 08 12:54pm |
| There are seven critical issues that have caused uneasiness among the Indian community and the government must immediately take steps to address them.The seven are:1. an equitable participation in the share market;
2. Indian intake in public universities; 3. better employment opportunities, especially in the public sector; 4. increase the number of government scholarships; 5. greater access to entrepreneurship training and micro-credit loans; 6. an effective urban poverty eradication programme; and. 7. the establishment of a dedicated mechanism to monitor and evaluate the delivery of public sector services in a just and fair manner. MIC president S Samy Vellu, in listing out these seven grouses, urged the government to resolve these issues immediately as they have hindered the party’s efforts to ensure the upward mobility of the Indians, Bernama reported. “The Indians have very high expectations and are demanding from MIC greater inclusion, access and their rights in the socio-economic development on par with the other communities,” he said at the MIC special convention for branch chairmen at the Putra World Trade Centre today. The Works Minister, who has come under increasing criticism for the failures of the community, said that the Indians wanted just and fair treatment from the government. The special convention was held to prepare the MIC’s grassroots machinery for the upcoming general election. It was opened by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. About 3,700 MIC branch chairmen and the party’s elected representatives attended the one-day convention. Elaborating on the seven grouses, Samy Vellu said the MIC wanted the government to ensure equitable participation in the share market through the establishment of a special mechanism such as the Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) in order to attain the three per cent equity target by 2020. He also added that the MIC could only complement the programmes provided by the government for Indians but these initiatives were not sufficient to re-alter the socio-economic disadvantage of the community. Serving effectively He expressed his confidence that the government would take speedy action on the seven issues which have been forwarded to the government several months ago. “We have been continuously discussing with the government to resolve these issues and I am confident of a speedy solution,” he was added. Samy Vellu also said that the party was confident of repeating its 100 per cent victory in the last general election. In 2004, the party won all the nine parliamentary and 19 state seats it contested. He said that the present unhappiness among the Indian community would not dampen the party’s resolve to retain all the seats. “With the people’s loyalty and support to the Barisan Nasional, the MIC scored 100 per cent success in the 2004 general election. The Indians realise the Barisan government had always served the people’s interests and had brought socio-economic progress to all races,” he said. He added that MIC’s election machinery had been well-oiled and was in top gear to swing into action when parliament was dissolved to pave the way for the 12th general election. On today’s convention, Samy Vellu said it was to discuss ways for the party to serve the Indian community effectively. As grassroots leaders, he said, MIC branch chairmen must maintain close ties with the people in their areas and to inform them the various opportunities extended by the government to improve their livelihood. |
MIC wants Govt to address seven key issues
KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC has asked the Government to address seven critical issues which had caused “uneasiness” among the Indian community, said Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. The party president said the issues should be resolved immediately as they had hindered the party’s efforts to ensure the upward mobility of Indians.
Samy Vellu said among the requests were ensuring that there were equal participation in the share market via the establishment of a special mechanism, like Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), to obtain the 3% equity target for the Indians by 2020. Other issues were ensuring better employment for the community in the civil service, giving them greater access to entrepreneurship training programmes and micro credit loans. More Indians should also be given educational opportunities, especially in critical courses in public universities, Samy Vellu said, adding that they should be given more government scholarships. He also called for the setting up of a more effective poverty eradication programme to address the socio-economic dislocation of urban squatters. Samy Vellu also said a dedicated mechanism should be set up to monitor and evaluate the delivery of public sector services in a just and fair manner.
“The MIC is working hard to address concerns of the disadvantaged and low-income Indian families who form part of the bottom 30% of the socio economic ladder,” he said in his speech during a one-day special convention for MIC branch chairmen Sunday. About 3,000 party members attended the convention at the Putra World Trade Centre.
Samy Vellu listed several socio economic issues arising from the Indian’s rural urban migration including the lack of educational opportunities and low level of literacy among Indians. Also, a large number of them had low-paying jobs, he noted. “These are factors that prevent the advancement of the ‘underclass sections’ among the Indians and (these deter them) from participating in the country’s development process,” he said. The one-day convention is aimed at discussing a systematic approach to optimise the party’s resources and serve the Indian community more effectively.
It is not the fault of MIC when they have been made redundant by UMNO’s hegemony. This state of affairs will remain so as long as the the country is ruled on racial lines and UMNO remains arrogant and corrupt. MIC and all the BN component parties will remain subservient to UMNO.
Most of the problems of the Indians are created by the policies put in place by the UMNO led government.
If the government was sincere in addressing the needs of the hardcore poor and the stateless people (people without birth certificates and ICs) and provided equal opportunities for these people at the least, we would not see any problems among the Indians. The hardcore poor Indians are quite resourceful people provided they are not suppressed and put in a hopeless situation.
Years of suppression has led to the state of hopelessness and apathy of these hardcore poor people. They never asked for handouts and merely asked for basic food, shelter and clothing and equal opportunities. If these things have been granted they would have made it good for themselves without any handouts like scholarships, housing discounts and whatnot.
In a country where there is enough for everyone the hardcore poor should not beg for these basic needs. The state should grant it to them as if it is their birthright regardless of their race, creed, sex, caste or color. If the state ignores the plight of such people after so many years then the state has failed. Only unconscionable people would ignore such people. And only insincere and unconscionable people would prepare a list of their needs and pretend to look into the needs of such people when the election date is looming.