Mira reminds Liew of 10pct quota for Indians pledge

The Minority Rights Action Party (Mira) has expressed concern over Law Minister Liew Vui Keong's reply to Parliament that the Pakatan Harapan administration was not bound to ethnic quotas in terms of recruitment.

Mira president A Rajaretinam said Liew could have erroneously said so, therefore causing confusion among Indians, who were promised a recruitment quota for government-linked companies (GLCs), government agencies and local governments.

"Mira, a Haparan strategic partner, is disappointed with (the minister's reply) which contradicted Harapan's 25-point manifesto for the Indian community.

"Although we agreed... that this was likely the minister's oversight, we hope he is more careful in the future," he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Yesterday, Tapah MP M Saravanan had questioned the government in the Dewan Rakyat on the implementation of the 10 percent quota for Indians, which he erroneously said applied to civil service.

Item 11 of Harapan's "special commitment for the Indian community" in its election manifesto reads: "All government-owned companies, federal government agencies, state and local authorities, will be directed to ensure 10 percent of their new employees are Indians."

'Do it for at least five years'

To Saravanan's question, Liew replied that the Harapan administration practised meritocracy and emphasised on competency when it came to civil service appointment.

Rajaretinam said that this reply had caused confusion and drew widespread coverage by the Tamil press.

"I have received a lot of phone calls (about this). The government is also receiving a lot of brickbats on social media. We urge Harapan leaders to clear the air," he said.

He also urged the government to expedite the formation of the special taskforce to look into minority rights as promised by Mahathir.

"We are aware that the government is still designing this special taskforce. We want the process to be expedited," he said.

Puchong PKR division head S Murali, who was also at the press conference, said that although he supported appointments based on merit, the quota for Indian recruits should be implemented, even if it was just for five years.

"This is because the racist system practised by the previous administration had led to the Indians, Orang Asli and bumiputera from East Malaysia to be left behind in terms of the living standards.

"They deserve special attention by the Harapan administration," he said. - Mkini