'Disappointing' evening with the PM

Source : Malaysia Kini
Image : Net


Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi missed a ‘golden opportunity’ when he spoke at the MIC gathering yesterday by failing to announce concrete steps to address the issues affecting the Indians community.

This was the message from several leading figures in the Indian community when commenting on the MIC-organised ‘an evening with the prime minister’ gathering at the Cheras badminton stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

At the gathering, attended by about 15,000 people, Abdullah announced Thaipusam a public holiday for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya as well as the setting-up of a cabinet committee to tackle hardcore poverty.

While such announcements cannot be completely dismissed as irrelevant, Abdullah failed to address far more important issues and grievances of the Indian community, said members of the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC).

'Yet another committee'

GCC coordinator Charles Santiago said declaring Thaipusam as a public holiday was a belated recognition of the Indian festival as being part and parcel of the Malaysian cultural heritage to be shared by all citizens.

This, as well as the announcement of the cabinet committee, however, cannot overshadow the need for real government action as opposed to mere pronouncements and platitudes.

“Abdullah should have taken the opportunity to announce the concrete steps that he was going to take without waiting for the findings of yet another cabinet committee to look at the problem and make its recommendations”, said Santiago when contacted today.

Among the concrete steps Abdullah could have announced for the Indian community, said Santiago, was a viable budget allocation for Tamil schools and the setting-up of more vocational and entrepreneurial training for youths and single mothers.

More licenses and other regulatory issues could have been announced for Indian businesses and contractors while greater resolve could have been demonstrated to resolve the problem of ‘stateless’ Indians who are without identification documents, Santiago added.

“On the one hand, Abdullah’s announcements was recognition that the New Economic Policy (NEP) and other poverty eradication policies had failed.

“On the other hand, he was saying, 'We cannot really solve your problems, so we’ll give you a holiday', said Santiago.

“It was a golden opportunity that was missed”, he added.

'Political gimmicks'

GCC coordinator M Manogar noted that many previous ‘high-powered’ governmental groups had been set up to tackle poverty, including one in which Abdullah himself was a member.

Manogar was referring to the First National Economic Consultative Council (Mapen I: 1989 to 1990) which was followed by Mapen II (1999-2000).

He also lamented, however, that Abdullah had failed to address the pressing issues of the day such as the dismal of government allocations to Tamil schools and the demolition of Indian temples.

“We are beyond such issues as committees and other political gimmicks. We are waiting for real action-oriented steps to tackle poverty, for example, which cuts across all races”, he said.

Manogar also noted that many of the steps the government was now taking to appease the Indian community was due to the demonstration of ‘people power’ by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

“You cannot take away credit where credit is due”, said Manogar in reference to the government crackdown on Hindraf leaders and supporters. Five Hindraf leaders have been detained under the Internal Security Act.

'Equal rights'

Malaysian Indian Business Association (Miba) president P Sivakumar, on the other hand, said Abdullah’s announcements on Sunday were completely beside the point.

“The Hindraf leaders and 30,000 Indians who took to the streets on Nov 25 were not fighting for public holidays or additional Tamil programmes on state television”, he said.

"They had mounted a just fight for equal rights and opportunities as well as against unscrupulous temple demolitions".

“What is needed is long-term affirmative action plans for the Indians like what was extended (In the NEP) to the bumiputera. The Indian equity ownership at a mere 1.5 percent proves that they are a neglected lot,” he added.