KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu wants at least eight per cent of civil servants to be Indians. He said the number of Indians hired as civil servants fluctuated between 3.5 per cent and less than five per cent every year. “It is only fair if we have about eight per cent representation in the civil service as that should be sufficient to look into the problems plaguing the Indian community,” he said after chairing the party’s central working committee meeting at the MIC headquarters here yesterday.He said a MIC delegation would soon meet with Senator Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, to discuss employment and economic issues and opportunities affecting the community.<\/p>\n
These include the formation of an investment-based foundation such as Permodalan Nasional Bhd and a special fund to increase the equity ownership of the Indian community to three per cent.
\n“Our community used to control 1.5 per cent of equity and now it’s down to only 1.2 per cent,” said Samy Vellu, adding that the government had not provided enough opportunities for Indians to grow.<\/p>\n
He also criticised government-linked companies (GLCs) and agencies handling loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for not providing business opportunities to the Indian community, especially in the petroleum and automotive industries. “We are very unhappy over the fact that Indian applicants who applied for SME loans are either rejected or ignored. “Some of the applicants have the expertise and there should be a comprehensive vendor system that will not only identify the brilliant workers but also pave the way for more Indian entrepreneurs to excel.”<\/p>\n
Samy Vellu said these were among the things which the government had failed to address and had resulted in the Indian community rejecting the Barisan Nasional coalition in the recent general election.<\/p>\n
“We could not answer the questions raised by the opposition parties during the elections and right now, our government is in a situation where it has to work very hard for the next four years to regain public confidence.”<\/p>\n