The social, cultural and political uneasiness of the Indian Community has suddenly become the main topic of discussion and debate in this country after the mammoth rally which took place on Sunday 25thNovember07 in Kuala Lumpur.
The MIC President and Works Minister has refuted in uncertain terms that MIC has been a let down to the Indian community. Barisan Ministers and MP's are also echoing the sentiments of Samy. But these assertions if true the more then 30,000 people would not have got down to the street to air their grievances.
What has gone wrong with the Indian community? Indians compose a mere 8% of the population:
1) The Indian community only controls 1.2% of the equity as compared to over 20% by the Malays and nearly over 40% by the Chinese. Out of the 1.2% of the Indian equity one person AnandaKrishana one of the richest man in the country of Indian origin possess nearly 1% of the stake. This leaves the nearly over 2 million Indians owning less then a mere 0.2 of the equity of the country. Now this is the where the so call equal distribution of the economic cake has not benefited the average Malaysian but a few businessman who have are well connected with political leaders of the country.
2) Social problems of the Indian community have been consistently overlooked and side stepped. Take for example a) Suicidal rates. The Indians have the highest suicide rate (21.1 for every 100,000 as compared with the Chinese (8.6) and Malays (2.6) The high rate of suicide clearly shows that the community members are not able to handle the daily demands of life and find a easy way out to commit suicide. B) High numbers of Indians involved in criminal cases as can be seen with over 40% of detainees at the Simpang Renggan detention. Frequently Indians who have been out of the estates land up in urban areas without proper housing and lend up as squatters. Here they find difficulty in getting jobs although the country claims full employment! The failure of the Government to quickly to assist this needy people.
3) The rampant demolishment of Hindu temples all over the country is another cry of the community. Many of the temples are sitting on private or government land .Over 500 temples have been demolished over the last few years with little respect to the sensitive of the Indian community. Hindu goddess statue have been broken with little understanding of how the Hindus feel. Although many a time this matter has been raised in parliament and even brought to YB Nazri in 2005 who said will look into the greivences but to date nothing has taken place. What is needed is a real new policy decision on Temples to be adopoted by the government.
4) Tamil Schools are in a deplorable state and there is also a shortage of teachers. Samy has said over 180 tamil schools have been built over the last two decade and another 80 new Tamil schools would be build. We doubt the figures given by Samy. Under the 9thMalasyisa plan No NEW Tamil schools would be build. That means for the nest 4 years without new schools is Samy saying the new 80 schools would be build in the 10th Malasia plan! In July 2006 over 500 Indian parents protested on the shortage of over 500 teachers in Perak. Although this matters have been raised many a time in Parliament little has been done to address this issue. Why? Is it because the Indians are insignifant as a voting block in this country?
We feel the time has come for the Government to get to the bottom of the matter and find ways to address the matters of public importance. One way for immediate way to attend to all these is to set up a revolving fund of 1 billion to be administered by a special agency of the government to up lift the economic well being of the Indian community. An annual grant of 1 billion for this agency must be done until the community is at par with the other communities.
The people in power must all stop the denial syndrome.
The MIC President and Works Minister has refuted in uncertain terms that MIC has been a let down to the Indian community. Barisan Ministers and MP's are also echoing the sentiments of Samy. But these assertions if true the more then 30,000 people would not have got down to the street to air their grievances.
What has gone wrong with the Indian community? Indians compose a mere 8% of the population:
1) The Indian community only controls 1.2% of the equity as compared to over 20% by the Malays and nearly over 40% by the Chinese. Out of the 1.2% of the Indian equity one person AnandaKrishana one of the richest man in the country of Indian origin possess nearly 1% of the stake. This leaves the nearly over 2 million Indians owning less then a mere 0.2 of the equity of the country. Now this is the where the so call equal distribution of the economic cake has not benefited the average Malaysian but a few businessman who have are well connected with political leaders of the country.
2) Social problems of the Indian community have been consistently overlooked and side stepped. Take for example a) Suicidal rates. The Indians have the highest suicide rate (21.1 for every 100,000 as compared with the Chinese (8.6) and Malays (2.6) The high rate of suicide clearly shows that the community members are not able to handle the daily demands of life and find a easy way out to commit suicide. B) High numbers of Indians involved in criminal cases as can be seen with over 40% of detainees at the Simpang Renggan detention. Frequently Indians who have been out of the estates land up in urban areas without proper housing and lend up as squatters. Here they find difficulty in getting jobs although the country claims full employment! The failure of the Government to quickly to assist this needy people.
3) The rampant demolishment of Hindu temples all over the country is another cry of the community. Many of the temples are sitting on private or government land .Over 500 temples have been demolished over the last few years with little respect to the sensitive of the Indian community. Hindu goddess statue have been broken with little understanding of how the Hindus feel. Although many a time this matter has been raised in parliament and even brought to YB Nazri in 2005 who said will look into the greivences but to date nothing has taken place. What is needed is a real new policy decision on Temples to be adopoted by the government.
4) Tamil Schools are in a deplorable state and there is also a shortage of teachers. Samy has said over 180 tamil schools have been built over the last two decade and another 80 new Tamil schools would be build. We doubt the figures given by Samy. Under the 9thMalasyisa plan No NEW Tamil schools would be build. That means for the nest 4 years without new schools is Samy saying the new 80 schools would be build in the 10th Malasia plan! In July 2006 over 500 Indian parents protested on the shortage of over 500 teachers in Perak. Although this matters have been raised many a time in Parliament little has been done to address this issue. Why? Is it because the Indians are insignifant as a voting block in this country?
We feel the time has come for the Government to get to the bottom of the matter and find ways to address the matters of public importance. One way for immediate way to attend to all these is to set up a revolving fund of 1 billion to be administered by a special agency of the government to up lift the economic well being of the Indian community. An annual grant of 1 billion for this agency must be done until the community is at par with the other communities.
The people in power must all stop the denial syndrome.
2 comments:
When is DAP going to stop OPPOSING and start telling the people what it will offer IF given the mandate?
Dear koolgeek,
I think you can follow the following hyperlinks:
1. http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/2007/aug07/lge/lge722.htm
2.http://tonypua.blogspot.com/2007/09/dap-malaysian-first-budget-2008.html
Thanks
wengsan
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