Fortunately we have a malaysiakini forum for righteous and sensible people to air their grievances against the government authorities.

Admittedly, it is questionable whether the views expressed here reach the hearts of the powers-that-be, but certainly the viewpoints discussed do reach their minds for there is a degree of response from those in power - whether good or bad.

Which means these guys are all seriously reading this portal! This in itself is a great achievement for they know that the educated classes ie, the young students, the academia and professionals have access to this information technology and will realise the truth.

I have been constantly writing on the plight of the stateless Indian Malaysians in the country. Here I must congratulate Astro's Channel 6 for airing recently a programme on the real situation of these abject, poverty-stricken people. With no MyKads, they cannot get decent jobs. They work as slaves for contractors who are certainly very happy that these people don't have identification documents as they can exploit them.

There are thousands of such stateless Indian Malaysians in the country today. At least during the colonial times, the British made sure every birth was registered and that paved the way for proper issuance of identity cards later. This was easily done through the estate hospitals where the hospital assistant took care of this task. With the British gone, the estates became fragmented and with that the system of registering births too was gone.

I remember VT Sambanthan going from estate to estate to make sure these poor, illiterate Indians became citizens of this country by making them put their right thumbprint on their citizenship forms. They would not do it otherwise as they were ignorant and illiterate. This is what the MIC leaders should be doing today at every branch level in the country. Not only the MIC but also other Indian-based or linked political parties like the IPF, PPP, Gerakan and the DAP.

The cabinet should empower the these political parties to certify the citizenship of these poor Indians born in this country. Some are already even grandfathers and grandmothers. What a shame on us and on this Barisan Nasional-led government.

I saw on the Astro programme MIC and Yayasan Strategik Social officials saying that the onus is on these people to prove their birth and apply to National Registration Department for their MyKads. What a tragedy. If these poor souls can prove their birth, then they don't need the MIC.

The NRD officers who spoke on the programme just repeated the rules of their department. In consequence, these poor Indian souls are left to rot. And we talk proudly of our achievements of 50 years of independence. Shame on the MIC and shame on all the present BN leaders.

Allow MIC branch chairpersons to certify the authenticity of the birth of these poor souls and let them be issued blue MyKads. The ancestors of these Indians came to this country more than 200 years ago to develop the rubber plantations, to built highways, the railways, etc.

That was the foundation for the present strong economy of the country. All these poor souls are citizens by deed and residence. The rules should be spared for the illiterate citizens. Most of the young stateless male Indians have become hardcore criminals creating a great social problem affecting the security of the nation.

We have to temper the situation with mercy and compassion and the rules are not fair for the circumstances these people live under. We cannot say that they were not born in this country when the reverse is true. I trust therefore Pak Lah will give proper instructions to NRD to issue MyKads to these poor souls without any further hurdles in between.