Unlike previous assemblies which were just rehashing of resolutions (there were five this time), this time there were some goodies announced by the VIP, Prime Minister Badawi and Samy Vellu.As reported in Malaysiakini, Star and NST:
- convert partially aided schools into fully-aided schools (was decided by the cabinet committee earlier)
- merge and consolidate Tamils schools that have less that 50 students (also announced earlier by the cabinet committee)
- students from AIMST can apply for PSD scholarships (one of the five private universities allowed to do so)
- government will assist AIMST to increase student population in critical fields like medicine and engineering
According to Badawi, government is focusing on “giving emphasis to education in the efforts to help the community because the success of future generation would depend on human capital development through skills enhancement training and education”.
- RM120 million over four years (RM30 million per year) for helping single mothers, develop youth programmes, and other schemes to help the needy. This allocation was recently approved and is part of the RM300 million asked by MIC earlier in May.
Samy also announced the setting up of a web portal to “feature all their activities and achievements so that anyone in the world could find out what the party was doing”. Not sure if he meant the MIC’s website.