YOURSAY | ‘Do in 100 days for Indians what MIC and Umno could not in 61 years.’

Statelessness not limited to Indians, says Latheefa

Vent: I completely agree with Lawyers for Liberty executive director Latheefa Koya when she asks: “Why again are the Indian leaders left to take up Indian issues, which should be the concern of all government leaders and elected representatives, irrespective of race?”

Could the answer to that be Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Either it is because he sees it as a wholly Indian problem, which it obviously isn't, or that it affects Indians disproportionately, despite being a minority and needs to be addressed as a community issue. I hope it is the latter.

In any case, the Indian representatives comprise some very good legal eagles, and I hope stateless Indians will be citizens soon. I hope these same MPs won't be averse to helping the others too.

Northern Boy: You are right Latheefa, statelessness covers more than one race, and should be under the purview of the cabinet.

But the problem of Indian stateless is acute and has been around as long as anyone can remember. MIC and BN promised to fix the problem many times but did nothing and the problem has grown.

Love Malaysia 2: There are also hundreds of thousands of stateless persons in East Malaysia.

This problem is national indeed and needs root and branch reforms to the registration process of births, marriages and deaths, with interfacing between affected agencies such as the Immigration Department, National Registration Department (NRD), Education Department and so on.

Anonymous_1527925538: The optics aren’t great, but if these Indian MPs want to help the many stateless Indians, what is the problem?

Nobody said anything about the rest not being helped. I believe the Home Ministry would welcome any help they can get and Indian MPs can help them to communicate with the stateless Indians.

Righteousness 4 All: It suddenly looks like every person wants a piece of the new cake one way or another. People forming caucuses, committees, etc, for all types of reasons.

Are they sincere in what they are doing, or are they doing this just to be seen, noticed and get publicity, so that rewards will be bestowed on them by the government. Do let the correct minister or ministry do it, please.

Abasir: This is a last-ditch effort to resolve a life-sapping problem that has been exacerbated by Umno race supremacists for the past 60 years and, at best, nibbled at the edges by the spineless, self-serving MIC, who used the problem to prolong their miserable existence.

But instead of splashing cold water on members of the caucus even before they can get to work, maybe Latheefa should get members of PKR’s supreme council – including de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim – to back them up for the same reason that you use to castigate them.

Anonymous 2411361459930771: This time I totally agree with Latheefa. It is a national problem, not an exclusive one that only Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran, Klang MP Charles Santiago and the other members of the caucus can resolve.

When it becomes a national problem as opposed to a select Indian one, it should be tackled and solved quickly and done on a national scale.

Statelessness among Indians a gov't priority, says Harapan caucus

David Dass: This is an easy problem to solve. If there is the political will to do so.

Just establish the criteria and the categories of persons resident in Malaysia who do not have citizenship but who should be given it. And then have a special unit established who are trained to implement the policy.

The numbers cannot be large. And it will not affect the demographic balance such as it is today. Malays are more than 60 percent, the Chinese 26 percent and the Indians seven percent. In addition, we have more than five million foreign workers in the country.

Making citizens of people who should have been made citizens a long time ago will really not affect the interests of anyone – except the affected citizens themselves.

Joe Lee: It’s very good to see so many Indian Malaysians finally united on a just cause. It should be easier to see progress now, with the NRD not having to take orders to keep these citizens stateless anymore.

It is way beyond ridiculous that Indian Malaysians are still without their full citizenship rights.

Dawn of a New Era: Time to walk the talk. Show the MIC what they could not do in 61 years of independence.

Pakcik Am: Yes, this should be a priority. Without citizenship, many Indians born and bred in this country have no rights at all. This is very serious race-based human rights abuse.

Harapan Indian elected reps propose to retain Sedic

Straight Talk: I agree that there should not be any racial categorisation and that the Harapan government should only be based and run on a multiracial concept.

But it cannot be done immediately. A strict time frame must be drawn up to gradually end the need for race-based government agencies without compromising the rights of the minority communities.

It requires a complete change of mindset of the civil service, careful planning and committed execution at all levels of the government administration. It is a mammoth task.

And in the meantime, Sedic should be revamped and made completely transparent. Assistance and funding to any NGO or organisation should be based on proven track record and an independent audit of its activities, financial status and thorough vetting of the NGO’s or the organisation's management committee.

It must also be made mandatory for the recipient organisations to submit monthly or at least quarterly reports to show how the funds have been managed.

RR: It will take a generation for all the races to think and act as Malaysians. This will be achieved only when it is a level playing field parked in meritocracy and egalitarianism. We talk of ‘new Malaysia’ today but politicians still talk of race in both coalitions.

It is undeniable the affirmative action policy – though much abused over the decades – really helped a large segment of Malays to come out of poverty. Therefore, our lawmakers must take upon themselves to first solve the stateless and jobless status of many in the Indian community for the year.

The buck must stop here. Our Welfare Department should be revamped to help every Malaysian in abject poverty.

Sang Kancil: Well done, lawmakers. Until the civil administration become race blind, we need advocacy and empowerment for the Indians, in particular those in the B40 group. Let’s hope now the wheel is in the right hands.

BuatApa?: First thing to note: The accompanying photograph of 23 people, of whom only one is a woman. It says plenty about gender, patriarchy and patrimonialism in this country.

Clearly Sedic was a total failure and if it were totally reliant on funds and fund distribution, it says just as much about the organisational and structural problems of the unit. It must be reformed.

Also, I'm sick and tired about hearing about race affirmative programmes. Affirmative programmes entrench a grossly misaligned sense of entitlement; they do not promote social justice in any way that will put a community on a competitive socio-economic and political footing.

If this land of racists wants to move beyond race and all of its inherent ugliness, it must do away with affirmative action policies sooner rather than later. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was a complete flop. Do we need another?

The Indian community, as class-divided as they already are, above being racially scorned by Malays and Chinese, must assert their political rights as Malaysians and not as poor distraught cousins of the other races.

This is why the 23 people in the accompanying photograph to this story must be constantly pressured every inch of the way until these rights are enshrined so that social justice can soon follow.

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