Absolutely no reason for protracted stateless Indian issue

By Chua Jui Meng

THE plight of some 300,000 stateless Indians is more thanenough a reason for you to change the federal government.

This problem should have been resolved long ago and therefore the Indian community in Malaysia cannot continue to trust the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government.

These stateless Indians have either lived here for decades or were born in this country.

They can also communicate fluently in Bahasa Malaysia. Why must their application for citizenship be rejected or their files left in the cupboard to collect dust?

In contrast, why were 600,000 Muslims from Indonesia and the Philippines in Sabah given citizenship and bumiputra status to vote in Malaysia? The majority of the Filipinos cannot even speak Bahasa Malaysia.

Clearly, the Umno-led BN’s ulterior motive and bad intentions for the people and country were to topple the then PBS state government and then use the foreigners as its fixed deposit voters.

And, Anwar has promised to grant citizenship to all the stateless Indians in Malaysia.

Come next 13^th General Election, the Indians must join us and give Pakatan Rakyat (PR) their ballots to fight BN…Lawan Tetap Lawan (Fight, we must fight).

There is absolutely no reason for Indians born in Malaysia and those who have stayed here for decades to remain stateless.

To quote (Parliamentary Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim, we are all Malaysian brothers and sisters, irrespective of race.

Anwar has also reiterated that a PR government will take care of the interest of all Malaysians and that is why PKR is leading a march to Putrajaya on Wednesday (Dec 12, 2012) to protest and to demand that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak grants the citizenship in the name of justice.

I also urge the Indian community to consider our proposed long-term people-centric fiscal policies in PR’s Buku Jingga (Orange Book) and alternative Budget 2013 when going to the next national polls.

Take whatever sweeteners that the BN is giving you now even though it is a measly RM500, but when it comes to casting your ballots, think of the long-term benefits PR is offering.

Chua and other PR leaders watching one of the many Indian classical dances staged at the Deepavali Open House organised by Taman Nesa DAP branch in Skudai on Dec 8, 2012.

PR’s slew of such benefits include monthly welfare aid for the poor raised from RM300 to RM550, free education for all Malaysian children all the way to university and RM2,000 annual aid for elderly couples.

In addition, RM1,000 annual allowance will be given to low-income families for every child aged 12 and below to enable mothers to send their children to day care centres.

This will help free mothers who need to go to work for additional income.

PR also wants to make cars more affordable to the people by reducing excise duty by 20% every year, the setting up of a national trust fund for the welfare of women in the country akin to the Employees Provident Fund and the scrapping of road tolls.

Deepavali or Diwali is celebrated by Hindus annually to mark the triumph of Good over Evil … and in Malaysia today, you know the evil is BN.