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Yoursay: No more ‘nambikai,’ but Najib still taking Indians for fools
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YOURSAY | ‘If he was more than ‘a bit sad’, he could’ve solved the community’s problems.’

Najib 'sad' that his action plan for Indians now in limbo

Enlighten: So former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is “a bit sad” that the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) cannot be carried out?

If he really wanted to make Indian Malaysians happy, he could give them a share of his spoils.

Ridiculous: Look at this man, for all his supposed love for the Indian community, asking them to put their trust in him, he cannot even just wish them a Happy Deepavali without defending his record. Talk about being self-obsessed.

You can’t do it anymore, Najib. Indians are no longer going to be helpless pawns propping up your kleptocratic regime.

Yes, it is true that the systemic neglect of the Indian community – with a disproportionate number of its members in gangs or jails – began before your time. And yes, it is true that the rot just kept getting worse under Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his first tenure as prime minister.

And I would not be the least bit surprised if Pakatan Harapan reneges on all their promises and the Indian community ends up in exactly the same situation they were in before.

But there is at least the chance of change. It is still unknown. Under BN, it was a foregone conclusion that some allocations would be announced and channelled to those in MIC, while young Indians continue to rot in prisons, if they are lucky enough not to get killed in custody.

A fighting chance, however slim, is better than none.

Ravinder: Why only “a bit sad”? Has Najib no heart to be a little more sad? If he did, he might have been able to resolve at least some, if not all, the problems.

Anonymous 7478653098613829: Najib loved the Indians so much that he only remembered to come up with the MIB eight years after he became the prime minister.

Before the 13th general election, he lured Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy to join BN and promised him a deputy minister’s role. After one year, Waythamoorthy was totally disillusioned with Najib and quit. This means that for four years after GE13, Najib did not need to think about the Indians.

So is what Najib saying about the MIB true? This from a man who still claims that the 1MDB scandal is a fiction. Go figure.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Our gratitude to Najib was displayed when a dismal 16 percent of Indians voted for BN in the 14th general election. That was the extent of our trust in him.

Kahlil Gibran: @Gerard Lourdesamy, the Indians will live to regret it. Because now they will have nothing. The RM100 million set aside to support the Indian community in Budget 2019 is pathetic.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Wayathamoorthy is now just like former MIC president S Samy Vellu, accepting what is thrown at him. He has to, or they will take it all away.

We are back to the days of old Mahathir, and the way he treated Indians. Good, serves them right for voting in Harapan.

If Najib’s plans for the community were such a failure, why doesn’t Harapan release the audit findings for the Special Secretariat for Empowerment of Indian Enterprises (Seed) and the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community Unit (Sedic)? These will give the people the details on whether there was cheating going on.

As long as Harapan makes accusations of cheating without releasing the accounts, they are being unreasonable.

The building of Tamil schools that were run down were duly renovated under Najib with proper libraries, halls and computer laboratories in place. The RM900 million for 524 schools distributed during Najib’s tenure is not an extravagant amount.

Remember that unlike the Chinese Malaysian community, who generously fund their own vernacular schools, rich and middle-class Indians generally do not help Tamil schools.

But Najib gave generously. If you want to see evidence of this, ask the Parent-Teacher Associations of those Tamil schools.

Ruben: Najib, we are all confused, because former deputy education minister P Kamalanathan said that you promised that RM36 million was going to be given out to 22 Tamil schools, with mock cheques being signed and everything.

But now Kamalanathan says that the allocation was overlooked during the power transition? Does he want the money from the current government? What is going on here?

Ramasamy to Najib: Too late now to show your love for Indians

Sam JLo: Some people are forgetting what has been done against the Indians, even though these same folks lived through the Mahathir era.

There are many prominent Indians in various fields, and in a high percentage considering they're a small minority race. But people only seem to note the high percentage of Indians in negative things, like crime.

The massive apartheid-like social engineering project to suppress Indians was most notable in the 1990s. Najib treated the Indians, and those in Sabah and Sarawak, better than his predecessors did.

Cocomomo: There are still people complaining about Harapan. I don’t get it. I presume they still want BN in power? Harapan has only been in Putrajaya for half a year, and people are complaining that they haven’t done anything for non-Malays?

BN has been rejected by all races in Malaysia. Forget these detractors. Let us build a truly harmonious Malaysia, even if it takes time.

Prudent: Harapan seems to be the new political 'untouchables' for many. But we should all watch carefully the new regime we voted in. Having drawn blood in GE14, the electorate must not hesitate to throw the Harapan regime out if they show signs of degeneration.

But it must be said that the non-Malays were not entirely ‘left out’. Just not emphasised like the Malays. There will be RM100 million earmarked specifically for the Indians. And of the RM5 billion earmarked for scholarships, just 52 percent is specifically for the Malays.

At the very least, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy should appreciate the sentiment. It is never too late to show 'love'.

Besides, MO1 (Malaysian Official 1) can still surrender some of his ‘clean’ gains for the benefit of the Indians.

Ramasamy should ask him for a donation for his Penang Hindu Endowment Board, we could all do with an extra ringgit or two nowadays.


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