MIC president S Samy Vellu is angry that "upper class" Indian Malaysians are not contributing to his pet project, the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology or AIMST (See Samy slams ''upper class Indians'' who only talk big ).
The pertinent question is why are better-informed Indian Malaysians reluctant to donate to any more MIC-sponsored projects? The reasons are not too difficult to fathom.
One that is the community will be having its own university. This is misleading.
The institute is owned by a private limited company known as AIMST Sdn Bhd. Its three major shareholders are Abdul Rashid Abdul Manaf who owns two million shares (40 per cent), Dr K Ampikaipakan, 1.5 million shares (30 per cent) and Dr T Marimuthu, 1.5 million shares (30 per cent).
Though donations are being solicited from Indian Malaysians, there is no evidence that the community will be the ultimate owner of the institute. Why would members of the community donate to a private commercial venture they do not own? Is it legal or morally right to raise donations from members of the public for such a venture?
Three — Samy Vellu claims AIMST is being built to help poor Indian Malaysian students denied places in local public universities. There is a serious contradiction. A few months ago when it was announced that only 1,750 Indian Malaysians secured places in public universities for the current academic year, the MIC president said something else.
He asserted that most Indian Malaysian students could only afford to pay about RM5,000 in fees and they will face serious financial difficulties if they are denied places in public universities.
When these poor students cannot even afford to pay RM5,000 in fees, would it possible for them to seek admission in AIMST which proposes to charge between RM30,000 and RM230,000 for its various courses? So, who is going to benefit from AIMST?
The fact is many Indian Malaysians are not qualified to enter the affordable local public universities. The logical course of action is to find out the causes and rectify the shortcomings.
It is, thus, important to improve the quality of education at the pre-school and primary levels so that more students will qualify to enter public institutions of higher learning. And this is exactly where community-spirited individuals and organisations are focusing on with their limited resources. They are certainly wise in keeping their distance from the MIC and its questionable schemes.
A few "upper class" Indian Malaysians are aloof and may not contribute to any effort to uplift the community. However, the majority of these well informed Indian Malaysians are concerned and will contribute if they are convinced that their donations are for worthy causes. Instead of lashing out at them, it may be prudent to persuade these "upper class Indians" with correct and convincing information. Samy Vellu can start by giving a complete and detailed breakdown of how much money the MIC has collected in the past 20 years, how the funds were spent and the resultant benefits for the community, if any.
