Samy Vellu’s answer to relentless marginalization of Indians – “have more children”

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Speech (2)

at the Parliamentary Roundtable: “Ninth Malaysia Plan – Who Benefits”
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Wednesday) :The Ninth Malaysia Plan confirms the relentless marginalization of the Indians as the new underclass in Malaysia, with the Indian equity stake falling to 1.2%, the downward revision of the 3% Indian equity  target in 2010 pushed back to 2020, the sharp fall of Indians in the public sector from 17.4 per cent before the launch of the New Economic Policy in 1971 to the present 5.12 per cent and the continued dominance of Indians in crime, prisons and Simpang Rengam detention centre.

MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu was very categorical  at a National Economic Action Council briefing last October on the need for government action to ensure that the Indians achieve the 3% equity stakes  in 2010.

He said: “If it doesn’t happen in the next five years (when the OPP3 runs out), there is no point in talking about it anymore.  What is the point of meeting in forum after forum on how to achieve the 3% equity?

“If nothing happens by then, we won’t ask anything from the Government anymore. We’ll close shop.”

The Ninth Malaysia Plan has shown that this 3% Indian equity stake is not going to “happen” at the end fo the OPP3 in 2010, as it has been pushed back to 2020.

But there has been no protest from Samy Vellu or the MIC leaders who should be in the forefront of a national debate on the continued marginalization of the Indians in the country, and in particular, why the Indians have not only failed to achieve the 3% equity target for 2010, but had slipped back to 1.2%, one of the lowest registered in  two decades.

Instead, MIC leaders are only interested in SMS popularity contests in the party elections, while Samy Vellu has come out with the fantastic “solution” to the woes of the Indian community – “To have more children”!

The Ninth Malaysia Plan has marginalized many groups in the country, not only the Indian underclass, but also organg asli,  the bumiputras in Sabah and Sarawak as well as both the Malay and non-Malay poor.

I hope that the Parliamentary Roundtable on “9MP – Who benefits” will start a series of public soul-searching about the many blemishes and failings of both the 9MP and the National Vision, which are not conducive to the creation of a united, progressive and a just Malaysia.

(12/04/2006)