MIC today called on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to formulate a strong integration programme to strengthen Barisan Nasional (BN).

MIC president S Samy Vellu said the programme will also seek for the strengthening of the individual component parties within BN.

samy vellu and mic "This is essential to regroup and reorganise our strategies and directions in order to regain the trust and confidence of the people. As such, we must not delay on this exercise," he added in a statement.

Samy Vellu said the programme will entail the policies and plans for the respective communities which must be executed immediately.

He added that the policies and plans must be announced to the public and time frame has to be set for their implementation.

"If we fail to carry out this task, we will fail in our journey towards reaching progress for the nation and the people," noted the MIC president.

Expedite assistance

In the March 8 polls, BN suffered a major setback after the opposition took 82 parliamentary seats denying the ruling coalition a two-third majority.

Apart from failing to wrest Kelantan away from PAS, BN also lost an additional lost four states - Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Penang.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu also urged the government to expedite assistance to the bottom 30 percent in the Indian community who are still living in poverty and under-employed.

"I wish to suggest the formation of a committee headed by the prime minister and deputy prime minister and its members consisting of all the heads of BN component parties to discuss and chart out the development programmes that will have to be implemented immediately.

"The time has come for us to build a truly united Malaysian nation. If we fail to do this, it would mean we are encouraging our supporters to go along with the opposition.

"We need to attend to the problems of the people with a clear and unbiased mind," he added.