More than 1,000 members of Penang MIC members have called for an end to lip service and for action to offer Indian Malaysians more jobs and career promotion opportunities in the civil service.

In support of their call, they passed a resolution at the 58th State Convention over the weekend, noting as well that Indian Malaysians have been seriously disadvantaged over the past 20 years.

While debating the matter, several delegates highlighted the disillusionment of Indian Malaysians in relation to jobs and promotions in the public sector.

"They are unhappy that they have been sidelined over the years. This is the main reason why younger Indian Malaysians rarely apply for government jobs," said a delegate.

The resolution was among the 11 passed at the annual convention, which was officiated by MIC president S Samy Vellu.

Among those who attended were state Barisan Nasional chairperson and Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon, MIC deputy president S Subramaniam, vice-presidents G Palanivel and S Veerasingam, state chief Dr K Rajapathy and secretary PK Subbaiyah.

Socio-economic problems

In another resolution, the members unanimously called on state government to allocate more low-cost houses for the Indian Malaysian community.

A study carried out by Socio-Economic Research Institute (Seri) in 1998-1999 showed that 70 percent of the 160,000 Penang-based Indian Malaysian community had been living as squatters or in rented premises.

It found that the majority were low-income earners who did not have enough money to even pay the 10 percent deposit to purchase low-cost houses.

The resolution demanded that the state government immediately implement comprehensive and constructive development programmes to assist the community to overcome their socio-economic problems.

Another resolution indicated a strong show of support for Samy Vellu's call to the federal government to replace the moral syllabus with Hinduism studies for Tamil school students nationwide. Delegates said they wanted the Education Ministry to implement this without delay.

"Religious knowledge would enrich and strengthen future generations of Hindus through better moral values and spiritual knowledge, which would keep them from getting involved in unhealthy activities," a delegate said.

Samy Vellu had made the proposal last month at the 27th Malaysian Hindu Sangam annual general meeting in Petaling Jaya, saying religious studies would instil resilience, confidence and leadership qualities in students.

He is discussing the matter with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Dr Rajapathy said the state MIC would follow up on the resolutions at the national delegates conference.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini 's Penang-based stringer