The government's lack of political will in ensuring that national social policies, particularly those targeting the minority communities, are properly implemented has left most Indian Malaysians lagging far behind other citizens, the Social Strategic Foundation (YSS) has found.

The social arm of the MIC, the Indian Malaysian-based Barisan Nasional component party, said the administrative weakness in the implementation and public delivery system has impeded the growth and development of a segment of the Malaysian Indian community.

"(On the structural side), the lack of political will in implementing, monitoring and reviewing well-thought through policies is quite evident," said the 14-page closed-door discourse paper entitled 'Malaysian Indian Issues & YSS Response' prepared on Sept 28.

"Race relations in Malaysia is one area that has not been studied enough despite having multi-ethnic participation in social programmes implemented in some poor neighbourhoods," it added.

The paper proposed a national secretariat to ensure the establishment of a nationwide database on the related issues, the disadvantaged, the vulnerable segment and their location.

"Lobbying for an education system that is value-added will be in the right direction, as this will build the integrity of individuals, mutual respect and appreciation of one another in our pluralist society."

Operation centres

In line with this, the paper said YSS and the MIC will have operation centres in 62 parliamentary constituencies that are predominantly Indian Malaysians, undertake community profiling, set up a socio-economic task force comprising local leaders and organise minimum six community-based social programmes.

"The affluent and middle-class should come together to form the tri-sectoral partnership in uplifting the disadvantaged and the bottom 30 percent," stated the paper.

In a recent interview, YSS executive director Dr Denison Jayasooria (photo right) told malaysiakini that major problems lay within the bottom 30 percent of the Indian Malaysian population pyramid comprising the poor and marginalised segment.

"They can play a key role in disseminating information on opportunities, funding manpower and programme cost, and as volunteers with a greater commitment to the grassroots in a bottoms-up approach," the discourse paper proposed.

The foundation claims to have done over 30 studies, two of them commissioned by the then National Unity and Social Development Ministry, in the categories of displaced estates, fragmented estates, estate and squatter housing, monthly wage issue, poverty and Tamil schools.

Based on this, said the paper, there is active networking with several government agencies including Junior Mara Science Colleges for vocational training, local authority-based community programmes, government-backed banks and the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation.

Lack of interest

However, it criticised the lack of interest among Indian Malaysians to get into programmes offered by the government.

"Even when the government has made provisions, these are not fulfilled due to the lack of response from the community."

The paper, citing Giat Mara Centres which provide skills training, said although 650 spots were offered for each intake "there were not enough takers".

Another example cited is the RM20,000 housing loan approved by Bank Simpanan Nasional for plantation workers.

"But the Malaysian Indian workers don't stand a chance because they have no land to build on.

"The weakness lies in the lack of follow-up on these recipients, including students who fail to register upon receiving offer letters to further their studies or skills," the paper added.

The YSS claims to have reached out to over 135,000 people through more than 1,300 activities in 40 predominantly-Indian Malaysian neighbourhoods.

Talking about Indian Malaysians within the Malaysian context on a micro-level, the paper outlined an intervention model YSS has adopted involving outreach programmes to youths with challenging behaviour and dysfunctional families.

The YSS discourse paper declared that its action research had led to improved policies and programmes targeting Indian Malaysians but that "at times the delivery process has been slow and weak".

It also cited government grants obtained based on some of the studies such as on social ills and on Indian businesses in Malaysia. No examples of the type of business were cited.

"This brought out clearly the need for Indian workers and the (government) approved the number of Indian workers (that are allowed to work in Malaysia)."

Shortage of resources

The paper explained that YSS has done a lot of grassroots outreach work involving leadership, communication and negotiation skills and building the human potential and dignity, but has problems continuing the trend due to a shortage of resources.

The YSS paper also noted not having enough researchers to work on the systematic documentation, currently seen as a weak link to a more effective social intervention, without being divided by time or overloaded with other tasks.

"This is a serious impediment to further development of the work. If there is financial commitment towards employing researchers from corporate sectors much more can be accomplished.

"Unfortunately, funders are more interested in self-promotion and publicity-oriented programmes," the paper concluded.

"Furthermore, ensuring implementation is a tedious process as we have to influence the civil service bureaucrats with their own priorities and agenda," it added.

The paper also urged the public and private sectors, and civil society including the upper echelons, to join forces in addressing Malaysian Indian issues, particularly to instil self-help initiatives and the right to self-determination.