ONLY 9,000 stateless not 300,000: Do you think Malaysian Indians believe you, Najib?

I refer to the statement by PM Najib Tun Razak today that there are only 9,000 stateless Indians in the country and that Pakatan Rakyat's estimate of 300,000 is exaggerated.

The PM's statement is a dishonest and disgraceful attempt to play down the number of stateless Malaysians of Indian descent; the tiny figure of 9000 is baseless and illogical. The PM is mocking and lying to the Indian community.

Absurdly,the PM bases his estimate upon the number of persons who had approached JPN counters during the MyDaftar campaign, which was carried on for just a few weeks last year. Obviously, the majority of the stateless would have been overlooked during this short campaign!

To register the stateless, it is not enough to open extra counters at JPN. In order to resolve the problem, it is necessary to go down to the affected persons throughout the nation and systematically register them.

Unfortunately, Najib has not shown the political will or inclination to carry out this exercise and end this great injustice.

Born & lived in Malaysia all their lives

The problem of statelessness is shockingly widespread among Malaysian Indians, whether rural or urban. The stateless, are denied proper schooling, employment and access to basic amenities.The problem is also becoming worse as it has become generational, with statelessness passed down to the younger generation.

As a result, thousands of Indian children of school-going age are also prevented from schooling or receive incomplete schooling. A prominent example is the case of 17 year old B Reshina who faced obstacles in registering for the SPM exam earlier this year.

These stateless Indians were born and have lived in Malaysia all their lives. They are citizens by operation of law. Najib and his government have flagrantly breached the federal constitution by refusing to issue blue ICs to our stateless Malaysians. Not a single Malaysian should suffer from the problem of statelessness.

We call upon Najib and his government to stop denying the enormity of the problem and to end the long suffering of stateless Malaysians immediately.

N SURENDRAN IS VICE PRESIDENT OF PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT