COMMENT | The Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) was launched by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on April 23, 2017.

This is the first ever federal government-initiated blueprint document. All previous efforts were either political party, academic or civil society-led aspirational documents lobbying the government to address needs and concerns.

Since its launch, there have been praises and critical analyses of the MIB. Some were supportive and others critical of the document and sceptical about its implementation.

I was invited to become a member of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC), a subcommittee of the Cabinet Committee on Indian Participation in Government programs & projects (CCIC) Exco chaired by the Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

I was unable to participate at the first meeting held on July 4, 2017, but did attend the meeting on Sept 12, 2017.

I was impressed with the positive developments since its launch, and recognised both their immediate achievements as well as their constraints.

Five key achievements

First, what is key is that a formal Prime Minister Department-level unit has been established with a director-general at a Juca B grade and deputy director-general, an Administrative and Diplomatic Service (PTD) officer with six departmental heads, all full-time staff who are mostly civil servants on transfer from other agencies.

This reflects not a temporary measure but permanence, as well as professional and not political appointees.

Second, Sedic's new office will be in a renovated Block D5, which used to house the old Secretariat for Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (Seed) office, bringing all the six units and coordination under one roof.

Third, the establishment of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC) chaired by Subramaniam and which comprises 32 persons is also significant, because it contains representatives from Indian NGOs – political, religious, professional, academic and business-related. This engagement and social dialogue process is very important.

The CLC has already met on two occasions since its launch, on July 4 and Sept 12, 2017. This also reflects some level of commitment and engagement with community leaders for feedback, collaboration and exchange of ideas.

Unfortunately, no women have been appointed among the 32. Sedic indicated that this will reviewed and ratified soon.

Some gender sensitising is necessary and a commitment to gender balance is essential, as Indian women in the bottom 40 percent household income group (B40) are the most vulnerable in our community.

Four, Sedic has identified seven initiatives as priorities for 2017.

  1. Launching an RM500 million Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) fund for passive income generation for targeted sections within the B40;
     
  2. Addressing B40 welfare registration/deregistration challenges and ensuring welfare receivables;
     
  3. Targeting 26 priority Tamil vernacular primary school building projects;
     
  4. Addressing MyDaftar documentation applications;
     
  5. Piloting daycare centres in suitable locations nationwide;
     
  6. Piloting temple transformation centres nationwide; and
     
  7. Establishing eleven Special Implementation Task Force (SITF) centres at community touchpoint centres nationwide.

Fifth, Sedic has also identified four other key areas:

  1. Monitoring the intake of Indians into the civil service to reach seven percent, by holding discussions with eight specific agencies and relevant government-linked companies;
     
  2. Monitoring and appealing on admissions to public universities to ensure the intake of Indian students reaches seven percent yearly;
     
  3. Explore the establishment of a co-operative bank for wealth creation and savings mobilisation; and
     
  4. Networking with former displaced plantation Indians residing in high-rise low-cost flats to improve socioeconomic conditions; a successful resolution to issues faced by residents of the Taman Permata low-cost flats in Dengkil; and piloting social intervention in Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya.

Future areas to work on

While it is easy to be critical and not recognise constraints, such as resources (personal and finance), while noting that it has only been four months since the launch of the MIB, let me highlight five areas of concern which Sedic can work on in the long term.

First, there seem to be no attempts to correct the mistakes and gaps in the MIB document. This is urgently needed, and Sedic can appoint a team to review and update this in light of some public criticism.

This is not a final document, but a dynamic one, which can be updated from time to time. It becomes a reference point and should be frequently reviewed and discussed, as these are the commitments of the current federal government.

Second, Sedic is busy with the ground work of MIB implementation, so they have not organised awareness and community engagement programmes on the blueprint. Many in the community are not aware of and even sceptical over these commitments.

Ongoing engagements are of utmost importance, and therefore Sedic can establish a communications unit in addition to its current six units. In addition to face-to-face dialogues and interactions, Sedic must increase its visibility through social media.

Building trust and regaining confidence is an uphill task, but perseverance and sincerity will bear fruit in the long run. Engaging all is crucial, including those who are very critical, as they are members of the community too.

Third, while the Sedic team has undertaken an immediate achievable approach of picking low-hanging fruit, they must draw up short-term, medium-term and long-term frameworks with deadlines and measurable indicators. They must have long-term goals in perspective.

Four, the immediate achievable approach tends to ignore the complex nature of urban poverty, which is multidimensional. Much of this is structural, and quick fixes, such as welfare assistance, are only short-term and might be counterproductive, as it creates dependency.

Empowerment strategies built on self-help and self-reliance are of utmost importance, which also includes changing mindsets.

Fifth, while this has not taken place, Sedic must guard themselves against falling into the trap and danger of ghettoising Indian community concerns.

It is of utmost importance that all the agencies of the federal government, such as education, health, housing, human resources, and police services, all continue to play a leading role in addressing community concerns from a national inclusive development perspective.

Therefore, working directly with all the relevant agencies is key to effective delivery and implementation.

Conclusion

These are some of my immediate comments, and let us continue to monitor the situation. There is now a good structure in place, including a secretariat at Putrajaya, as well as community centres at the grassroots.

This is a good beginning, but we need more interaction between the Sedic team and the community. With better communication, we can ensure a better buy-in and build trust with grassroots communities.

DENISON JAYASOORIA is the principal research fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and member of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC) of the Socioeconomic Development of Indian Community Unit of the Prime Minister Department (SEDIC).

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