PM: 1,600 Indians got citizenship

By Masami Mustaza, NST

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday urged Indians to put their nambikei trust) in the government to create change for Malaysians.

The efforts include the collaboration between the Special Indian Task Force and the Home Ministry to address documentation issues with the issuance of 1,642 identification cards to Indians.

In addition, 1,600 Indians have become citizens with the cooperation between MIC, the ministry, the National Registration Department and the police.

Najib called on Indians to support the government in its national transformation policy, which promised a better future for all citizens.

"Indians celebrate Deepavali, which is seen as a victory of good over bad, or light overcoming darkness. It is the same with the national transformation agenda, where we replace the dark with light," he said at a Deepavali concert organised by the Lebuh Ampang Business Association in Lebuh Ampang yesterday.

Najib said the government had done much to offer assistance to Malaysians in need, including Indians, in the spirit of inclusiveness.


In 2009, the government allocated RM100 million under the Economic Stimulus Package to build new buildings in 213 Tamil schools. This year, vernacular schools received RM250 million.

In the 2012 Budget, Najib announced that Tamil schools would receive RM100 million for maintenance.

"The government has also allocated RM100 million to small Indian entrepreneurs through a micro-credit scheme under Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia to allow them to participate and do well in business.

"Aside from special allocations for Indians, the budget also includes incentives, such as a one-off payment of RM500 to households earning less than RM3,000 a month through the Amanah Rakyat 1Malaysia scheme, which will be launched early next year."

Indian entrepreneurs were also given the opportunity to expand on their business through the Small Medium Entrepreneur scheme worth RM2 billion, he said.

In acknowledging the historical value of Lebuh Ampang, a business area set up by Chettiars from India during the pre-war era, Najib said he would leave the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry to decide how to improve the area without omitting the traditional elements that signified its history.

Present were Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, his deputy, Datuk M. Saravanan, and Lebuh Ampang Business Association president Abdul Rasull Abdul Razak.

Najib, in his latest entry ("Sunday Breakfast Conversation") on his blog, www.1malaysia.com.my, said the budget was not merely a give-away budget, as some had suggested, but was aimed at cutting government borrowing.

He said it was a budget that targeted help to those who needed it most, including families with low incomes, schoolchildren and sixth formers and university students, besides rural areas that should share the nation's economic strength.

"Fundamentally, though, the budget is about Malaysia's future. I announced new opportunities for foreign investment, a big reform in our civil service and new partnerships with the private sector to develop our infrastructure."

On Oct 9, Najib went out for breakfast with Rosmah and their daughter at Village Park, Uptown Damansara Utama.

He said he did not do it to garner huge publicity, but because he wanted to eat at a popular breakfast eatery in the Klang Valley, and hear the views of people.

"The people I spoke with during that Sunday breakfast said that they were pleased about my budget plans. But they also wanted to see me follow through on them."