Kuala Lumpur – MIC’s next mission is to ensure that the on-going special programs for Malaysian Indians are retained permanently within the government systems so that they become policies rather than one-off or interim measures, MIC President Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam said in a TV interview yesterday.
Speaking live yesterday in VASANTHAM, a talk show in RTM 2 hosted by Pandi Durai, Dr Subramaniam touched on various subjects including Health Ministry’s efforts in curbing the spread of ZIKA virus.
Replying to a questions on Indian community and MIC’s future, Dr Subra said that the party is thankful to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for several measures to help the Indian community but the time has come to ensure that these measures become a permanent feature within government policies.
“Challenge is to retain rights in the light of dwindling population strength”
“Our challenge now is that we have become only 7.1% of the Malaysian population dwindling from original 10%, once we were. In future this figure will further drop and therefore our task is, how to ensure our existing political privileges within the BN government are retained for the benefit of future generations. For example can we get the same number of seats in general elections and so forth. It is also difficult to foresee how the future leadership of BN will view the plight of Indian community and their rights” Subramaniam said in the interview.
“The way forward for the Indian community to progress is to excel in education and achieve economic progress. Therefore, MIC is now seriously taking measures to ensure whatever, rights and privileges accorded to Indian community today as special measures are permanently entrenched in the government systems as policies as this is the only way we can ensure our rights are protected. Although the Prime Minister has helped the Indian community since 2010 on various fronts, my only regret is that these are only special measures and not permanent in nature. So, we have to make sure these special measures are translated into permanent features as government policies. We cannot rely on leaders alone to give us special measures and allocations as and when necessary” Subramaniam further noted.
“We have taken this upon ourselves as MIC’s next challenge and are also embarking on efforts to ensure the benefits accorded to the “bottom 40%” of the population under the 11th Malaysia Plan are equally implemented for the benefit of the Indian community” Subramaniam said.
“Community first – only then positions”
On another question Subramaniam urged the younger generation to take stock of the hard work and exemplary sacrifices by our forefathers in order achieve success in this country and advised them to work even harder in the face of competition. “Even the foreigners who arrived in this country only a few years ago are showing success in their chosen fields and so our younger generations, who are born and brought up here, should also realise that opportunities in this country are still plenty and work hard”.
On the question of Indian support in next general election, Subra said : “We have shown through our transformation programs that MIC is taking the right measures to uplift the Indian community on social and economic fronts. We believe with our efforts, the community has started placing their trust on us. We urge them to continue to trust us as we are confident to deliver what the Indian community wants. Such trust and confidence, we believe, augurs well for the party to achieve better performance and results than the previous elections”
Replying to another question on the conflict between holding government positions and attending to community’s interests Subra said he is crystal clear that positions are to represent the community’s interests and to work for the betterment of the community. “If there is a conflict, and if the need arise, I will sacrifice my government positions in order to protect the Malaysian Indian community’s interests” Subra concluded in his interview.
-R.Mutharasan
