LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report AS1M now open to Indian community – Najib.

PSM’s “dynamic” Sungai Siput leader Dr Michael Jeyakumar lambasted the government’s Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) initiative that is meant solely for the Indians.

His concern about AS1M is akin to highlighting a sentence from a book and drawing conclusions without knowing the whole story.

He opined that the shares will only help the middle class and will not make a difference to the B40 (lower income) group.

AS1M is a dual phase programme. If you inquire a little more, you would realize that the first phase of the scheme is the allotment of additional 1.5 billion units for all Malaysian Indians, including the M40 (Middle Class) and T20 (The Rich).

The second phase would be the allocation of RM5,000 interest-free for 100 thousand B40 families, particularly those below the poverty line to purchase units in this AS1M investment scheme. It is basically a replica of what the government has done for the bumiputera.

If you have spoken to an Indian, the chances are you would have heard the story of how the government gives interest-free bank loans to the bumi for them to purchase ASB shares.

Well, this is the same thing. In the long term, this investment scheme is crucially aimed at achieving the target set in the Malaysian Indian Blueprint, which is to ensure at least 50 percent of registered poor households demonstrate increased savings in the next 10 years.

Hence, it is not like giving one-off sweets for the election as what the opposition does with their manifestos prior to every general election.

As for the issue with land and houses, baby steps have already been taken. The government is building four hundred brand-new single-storey houses for the Indian residents of Taman Permata flats who were displaced from their estates during the development of Putrajaya under Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure.

With regards to improper documentation, the recently concluded Mega MyDaftar nationwide event took place to identify the actual non-fabricated numbers of such individuals.

Under the Mydaftar campaign from 2010 to 2015 and then the Mega-Mydaftar campaign in 2017, a total application of 12,726 was received, out of which 7,049 Indians have had their documentation issue resolved.

In October 2017, 177 Malaysian Indians without proper documents received their citizenship statuses from the prime minister.

Processes are already on the go. Things are already happening. I wonder which year is Jeyakumar living in? Doesn’t he keep himself up with current on-goings?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.