A letter was written on Malaysiakini on Aug 23, 2015 with regard to marginalisation and deprivation of Indians in Malaysia in all aspects of life. Data provided by the author are staggering and disturbing.

Unfortunately, references for the data are very old. The latest reference made was from the year 2011. The rest are all before 2010 and one item of data is even more than 10 years old. While I agree with the author that Indians in Malaysia are suffering the most compared to the other major ethnic groups, I beg to differ with him that nothing has been done to uplift the Indian community.

During Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s regime, we all know how he misused the New Economic Policy (NEP) to empower only a single ethnic group. Historically, the Chinese always possessed economic empowerment dating back to before Independence itself. While the NEP uplifted the bumiputeras especially the Malays, the Indians were left straggling behind.

However, since Najib Abdul Razak held the helm as the prime minister, a lot has changed. Efforts are definitely being made to improve the socio-economic status of the Indians in this country. Lets put Najib’s personal alleged wrongdoings aside for a moment and only concentrate on Indian Malaysians. Numerous initiatives have been undertaken under the current government to elevate Indian Malaysians.

The formation of the Cabinet Committee for Indian Community (CCIC) directly under the watchful eye of the prime minister is a large stride taken to empower the Indians in Malaysia. This committee is headed by the PM himself and comprises of ministers and deputy ministers of Indian ethnicity. The CCIC has listed down specific targets to be reached for the Indian community.

Very recently, the Socio-Economic Development of Indian Community (Sedic), a unit under the Prime Minister’s Office was launched. Headed by Prof Dr NS Rajendran, special focus initiatives would be carried out for groups which consist of students, youths & the overall community who are in need of government assistance.

The targeted students are from pre-school right up to higher learning institutions. Not forgetting school dropouts, youths at risk, unemployed and single mothers.

A Special Secreteriat for the Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (Seed) have also been formed to assist Indian businessmen in obtaining finances and provision of other advisory services. RM150 million of loans have been reserved for Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

With regard to poverty and economic empowerment, under the Eleventh-Malaysia Plan, efforts are being undertaken to increase the Indian equity to 3 percent by the year 2020 and 5 percent by 2030. RM2 billion worth of Amanah Saham Malaysia and Amanah Saham 1Malaysia have been reserved for Indians in the country. Never before has such a sum under Amanah Saham been allocated for the Indian quota. The ethnic Indian share of Bursa Malaysia capital currently stands at around 1.1 percent only.

The author rightly mentioned that barely 1 percent of the education budget was spent on Indian Malaysian schools prior to 2008 (South Asian Voice, 2008). However from 2009-2013 around RM 540 million has been spent for infrastructure and facility improvement in 523 existing Tamil Schools nationwide.

Empowering tamil schools

In order to cater for the growing need, construction of at least seven more new Tamil schools have been approved by the current government. The fruits of success empowering Tamil schools are slowly emerging and becoming evident.

In March this year, three students from SJK(T) Ramakrishna in Penang triumphed over 300 contestants from all over the world to win the first prize at the 35th Beijing Youth Science Creating Competition. In London last October, students from SJK(T) Kulim won the Double Gold Award at a British Invention Show when they created an energy-saving drinks dispensing machine.

Data from the Education Ministry also show that Tamil schools are performing way better these days in standardised local examinations nationwide. These few success stories were unheard of previously.

An Action Plan for Future of Tamil Schools was formed in May 2012 and the role of this unit was to produce a comprehensive blueprint for the total and continuous development of Tamil schools in Malaysia.

Najib’s government has also recognised declining levels of participation among ethnic Indians in the civil service. As a start, the CCIC have objectified reserving 7.5 percent of all jobs in civil service to be allocated to ethnic Indians. In addition, 7.5 percent of all jobs in government-linked companies (GLC) are also reserved for qualified Indians currently.

In terms of skill development, the government announced in the 2013 Budget than RM50 million would be used to train 3,200 Indian students from estates. An additional RM100 million is being spent from 2013-2018 for skill training programmes for youths from estates. MySKills Foundation recently received a token allocation for their new facility to be built. This foundation focuses on skills development of troubled youths among Indians.

Looking at initiatives that are ongoing presently, it is obvious that PM Najib’s government has validated the existence of problems among the Indian community and counter measures are being implemented. You might call it vote-buying or hoodwinking the voters, but heck, who else in Malaysia have come up with such substantial measures to help the Indian community?

The writer of the article ‘Indian Malaysians, what’s your stand on Bersih 4' definitely failed to highlight positive measures the government has been undertaking to address the problems cited in ancient data he highlighted. Why not make a mention of the 2013 GelangPatah Declaration by DAP? It’s been two years and we are yet to see any outcome of it even in the state level of Penang.

In fact, the opposition pact violates the declaration policy on land and existing Hindu temples. Villages in Penang and temples in Selangor are continuously destroyed. How is this benefitting the Indian Malaysians in any way, dear author?

If you want to invite ethnic Indians in Malaysia to participate in the Bersih rally to combat and eradicate corruption, you are freeto go ahead. But please stop quoting old data and spreading lies that the current government is not doing anything to uplift the Indians in the country. Since you are not eager to give up your pride, where was the Indian in you when our temples were being destroyed in Selangor?

The writer of this article urges all Indian Malaysians to have pride in your ethnicity and stand up against any wrong-doing against the community, be it from the side of BarisanNasional or the opposition, not being selective in condemning.