Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak's modest handout of 120 MyKads to stateless Indians yesterday has been waved off as  a "cheap gimmick" and an insult to the community by PKR.

"This is a transparent and dishonest attempt to deceive the Indian community into thinking that the problem of statelessness is being resolved by the BN.

"While documents have been given to 120 people, what about the estimated 300,000 more Indians throughout the country who remain stateless?

NONE "Worse, about 49,000 Malaysian Indian children remain without birth certificates or MyKads" said PKR vice president N Surendran ( right ) in a statement today.

Surendran said Najib's act following the dissolution of parliament is "clearly a cheap election gimmick" and that the BN chief is not serious about solving the long-standing problem of stateless Malaysian minorities.

Meanwhile NRD has denied the existence of the large numbers of stateless.

Yesterday after the event, NRD tweeted, "It is impossible that there are 300,00 stateless. Now that we have called them to come (to receive their MyKads), only one percent (turned up) - just 300 people.

"Let's not politicise the issue," read the tweet.

‘Product of BN policies'

Surendran said the problem was not limited to the Indians but to Sabahans as well, where 50,000 in the state's interior are stateless according to state National Registration Director (NRD) director Jaffear Henry.

The government needed a "systematic and comprehensive approach," he said.

NONE "Piecemeal and politically motivated show events like in Bandar Baru Sentul on April 4 will not resolve the widespread problem of statelessness."

Surendran added that the root cause of the decades-old issue was the ruling party's discriminatory policies, that have become entrenched in NRD's practices.

"Discriminatory practices, excessive bureaucratisation, disregard of constitutional provisions and the apathy of the Home Ministry are among the main reasons for the continuing tragedy of stateless Malaysians.

"As the sole ruling government since independence, the BN is completely responsible for the endless sufferings of stateless Malaysians," he said.

Surendran said Pakatan intends to honour their pledge to resolve the issue within its 100 days in federal government should they win the next election, warning of a "bleak future" for the stateless under continued BN rule.

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