PETALING JAYA: Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waythamoorthy today proposed that the Home Ministry join forces with Indian-based NGOs to deal with the problem of gangsterism among Indian youths.
Responding to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s rebuke over his statement regarding Monday’s police killing of five suspected gangsters, he said the Home Minister had misunderstood his intention.
He rejected Zahid’s accusation that he was interfering in police work. Instead, he said in a media statement, he was trying to “voice out the true sentiments of the people on the ground so that I can contribute positively to the objectives and good governance of the government”.
Zahid told reporters yesterday that Waythamoorthy, in questioning the police explanation of Monday’s shooting in Penang, was thinking like the leader of Hindraf instead of a government official.
Waythamoorthy said he would formally ask the Home Minister to convene an “urgent meeting” with him and representatives of other NGOs to address “this problem of criminal involvement of Indian youths in a more holistic way”.
He said the issue had much to do with the “wayward drift” of young Indians, adding that “killing them off in this wanton manner” would not solve the problem of rising crime.
Responding to Zahid’s call for him to toe the government line, the Hindraf leader said it was precisely in order to “solve these complex problems in appropriate ways” that he had joined the Najib administration.
“Being a leader of the marginalised Indians in the country, I cannot just be a disinterested observer on the sidelines just because I am in government,” he said.
“In fact it is to the advantage of the government that I voice out the true sentiments of the people on the ground so that I can contribute positively to the objectives and good governance of the government.”
Zahid’s criticism of Waythamoorthy’s followed the latter’s statement that the policemen responsible for Monday’s shooting did not appear to be acting in self-defence.
