Indians need affirmative action

Premier Najib Tun Razak's programmes targetting the Indian community is too focused on 'giving out handouts', says Denison Jayasooria.

INTERVIEW

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Indian community which comprise less than 10% of the Malaysia’s 27 million population has always cried discrimination even from as far back as the 1970s when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced to, primarily, help improve the lot of the Malays.

Since independence and despite lacking in numbers and economic strength, the Malaysian Indian community has struggled to make their plight heard while giving its undivided support to the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

But in 2008, the community finally lost its patience and gave their votes to the opposition in the 12th general election.

This caused the BN to lose its customary two-thirds hold in the Parliament. The community gave the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition historic wins in five states.

Their swing to the opposition proved that the Indian votes are a force to be reckoned with and should never be taken for granted any longer.

In a recent interview, former Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS) director Denison Jayasooria shared his thoughts on the issues plaguing the Indian community and ways to address their plight.

Understanding Indians

For starters, he said, the government must understand that the Indian community is not a homogenous group.

“There are socio-economic, historical and cultural differences within the community itself,” said Denison.

He said the government should prioritise helping Indians who come under the low income category.

This group, he said, consisted of mainly former plantations workers or their descendants.

Denison explained that when plantation land were taken away for massive development projects in the 80s, the community was forced to move to urban areas.

Lacking the necessary skills to live in high density areas, the community’s social support system slowly deteriorated and eventually broke down as they were unable to fend for themselves.

“While political parties and non-governmental organisations did try to help, it was not enough to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the displacements, rendering them marginalised and disadvantaged,” said Denison.

Needs of minorities ignored by some

Being low income earners also poured fuel into the fire as the Indian youths felt helpless. Many turned to crime to earn a living.

To help them, Denison said the government should moot an affirmative action plan to assist the minority groups in the country.

“And the plan should include all low income earners such as the aborigines and the indigenous people from East Malaysia.

“The aid must be given on a needs basis,” said Denison.

He added that although the NEP was originally crafted to address this issue, over time, the needs of the minority were ignored by certain institutions.

He added that under the premiership of Najib Tun Razak, the government had introduced many programmes through the YSS, the social wing of MIC and the newly minted Special Implementation Taskforce which comes under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department..

However, Denison said, the programmes are very much politicised and were more focused on dishing out handouts to the community.

“What the community really needs is a comprehensive plan to break away from the cycle of poverty,” said Denison.

Need for better access

For starters, Denison said, the community needs better access to pre-school programmes and more education and skills training opportunities.

“The Indians also need comprehensive training on how to start a business and easier access to micro credit schemes,” he said.

Denison also lauded the Pakatan-led state governments for mooting their own projects to address the needs of the Indian community.

“States like Selangor and Penang have included Indian civil society leaders as local councillors and direct allocations have been made to help the community there,” said Denison.

However, he admitted the programmes would take time to bear fruit as there is no shortcut to solve problems plaguing the community for decades.

“But I’m optimistic that Indian community would overcome these hurdles sooner or later,” he said.