Parliamentary Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang today urged the government to establish a cabinet task force to find solutions to end the marginalisation of Indians and other groups.

He said the task force should be headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and should focus on:

  • Conversion of all partially-aided Tamil primary schools into fully-aided schools

  • RM500 million allocation to upgrade Tamil primary schools

  • Stop the demolition of Hindu temples and other places of worship nationwide.

    • Lim said his proposal was in view of a 30,000-strong "cry of desperation" by those who attended the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally on Nov 25.

    "The cabinet should end the denial about the marginalisation of Indians in Malaysia and come out with a new policy for a new deal to end the marginalisation of Indians and all marginalised groups," he said in a statement.

    Lim stressed that the cabinet and MIC president S Samy Vellu cannot deny that Indians have been marginalised over the last three decades.

    As an example, he pointed out that before the New Economic Policy was implemented in 1971, the civil service consisted of 17.4 percent Indians. This figure shrank to 5.12 percent in 2005.

    MIC's 'disservice'

    Since the Hindraf rally, Abdullah, Samy and other cabinet ministers have on a near daily basis denied Hindraf's charge that the Indian community is marginalised.

    Meanwhile, Lim also accused MIC of doing a "disservice" by not properly informing Abdullah about the plight of the Indian community.

    "Abdullah said he has 'big ears' and is prepared to hear the truth. It is shocking that nobody in the MIC leadership... is prepared and has the courage to tell the prime minister the truth.

    "For decades, the Indians have been marginalised politically, economically, socially, educationally, culturally and (on the basis of religion), reducing them into a new underclass," he said.

    Lim said these were the reasons why 30,000 Indians from all over the country had rallied behind Hindraf.

    However, he disagreed with Hindraf's claim that the Indians are victims of a state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.