George Town – Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, in his Deepavali message released today, has urged the Barisan Nasional government to give blue identity cards to stateless Indians and approve the application for a Tamil Secondary School in Penang.
“Only then Malaysian Indians will be confident that the Malaysian Indian Blue Print (MIB) is not an election gimmick” Lim Guan Eng further noted in his message. The following is the full text of his Deepavali message:-
“Malaysian Indians will only be confident that the Barisan Nasional’s Malaysian Indian blueprint is not a general election gimmick if blue ICs can be issued to stateless Indians, one Tamil secondary school can be approved, Indian university students can be given good courses and Hindu endowment board can be set up in every state to look after Hindu temples.
What is the point of talking about MIB if Indians cannot get ICs? Indians can only be empowered when not only the primary Tamil schools are well-maintained but also a secondary Tamil school can be given approval. there is no reason why the Education ministry refuses to permit secondary Tamil schools even though there are secondary schools that use Arabic, English or Mandarin as a medium of instruction. the Federal government only needs to spend on building the school since the Penang state government is willing to offer the land for free.
Further, the success of the Hindu endowment board in Penang in taking care of the management and physical improvement of Hindu temples in Penang should be emulated in every state throughout peninsular Malaysia. I wish this sense of empowerment rings absolutely true for all Malaysian Indians, many of whom occupy the bottom 40 (B40) economic grouping.
BN leaders recently said prime minister Najib Razak’s announcement for an additional 700 places to be made available in public institutions of higher learning for Indian students qualifies as a Diwali gift. This will only be a Diwali gift if the 700 university places include good courses like medicine, engineering Accountancy, Law and Dentistry and a Tamil secondary school is approved, Hindu endowment boards set up and finally blue ICs are issued.
As the light of Diwali dawns, let’s work together to make it happen. Happy Diwali.
Diwali Nalvalthukkal.”
