COMMENT I fully and completely endorse Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership compared with all other previous leaders of the Barisan Nasional.

He has given us - MIC - hope for the better since taking over the country in 2009.

I am an ardent admirer of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's leadership but I firmly believe Najib and his predecessor Abdullah Badawi have done more for Indians compared with Mahathir.

I am not attacking Mahathir ( right ) but supporting Najib and giving credit to Abdullah for starting a transformation and looking at the Indian plight, which had been ignored for many decades before.

Najib’s slogan “Nambekei” (belief) has given hope and confidence to Indians in Malaysia.

I am listing below several firsts by Najib as examples of the path-breaking ways he has changed our mindset.

  • Najib is the first prime minister who introduced 1Malaysia concept which gave confidence to people in the Barisan Nasional coalition, after many years of silent discrimination.
  • Najib was the first to apologise for the discriminations. He stepped up as Prime Minister on April 3, 2009, and no one had expected him to apologise for his party’s previous errors but to the surprise of many, he did. In his speech, he had mentioned “Past is past. I can transform the Indian community. Please trust me and join me in doing so. We shall all celebrate the successes together”.
  • Najib gave special focus to improving the poor Indian’s lifestyle, education, and citizenship.
  • Najib announced two ministerial appointments. After 35 years of BN rule in Malaysia, Najib was the first to announce 2 ministerial positions in the Cabinet to represent the Indian community.
  • Najib formed and chaired a special cabinet committee to look after Indian affairs.
  • Najib formed a Special Indian Task Force to tackle problems faced by Indians. About 7,000 Indians have been issued blue identity cards under the task force.
  • Najib formed the secretariat for Indian empowerment (SEED), allocating RM18 million to help Indian entrepreneurs to start participating in business.
  • Najib offered RM5 million to train Indian students who obtained low grades with skills training courses. This is the first time ever.
  • Najib introduced Tukar and Atom schemes to transform small sheds and grocery shops to the next level.
  • Najib is the first PM to allocate 2 billion Amanah Saham 1Malaysia shares, especially for Indians.
  • Najib is the first to take heed to improve Tamil schools, allocating RM10 million in every year's budget.From 2009 to 2013, the Najib government allocated RM540 million to restructure, relocate, and renovate Tamil schools in our country. Added to this, seven new Tamil schools licenses have been approved, with SJKT Lunas in Paya Besar, Kedah, being the first.
  • Najib took steps to improve the quality of Tamil school education, forming an Action Plan for the Future of Tamil Schools under the Prime Minister’s Department. Prof NS Rajendran was appointed coordinator of the portfolio.
  • Najib is the first prime minister who gave approval to Indian contractors to build Tamil schools. He gave the approval with his special powers.
  • Najib is the first PM to increase matriculation intake of Indian students from 500 to 1,500. Najib has also given full scholarships to the first 100 Indian students from higher-learning institutes who manage to obtain first-class degrees to further their studies to post-graduate and doctoral studies.
  • Najib also gave RM15,000 each to more than 500 poor Indian students in private colleges under his 1MDB.Najib also respects and takes into account the needs of Hindu temples. To date, more than 1,300 temples have received more than RM50 million to renovate and restructure.Najib has never failed to attend Thaipusam festival in the Batu Caves Murugan Temple every year since 2009.
  • Our Najib has done all these and we are confident he will do more. We enthusiastically back him and give him our wholehearted support.

C SIVARRAAJH is the MIC Youth leader.