Waythamoorthy: Najib was dragging his feet

The Hindraf chief and former deputy minister says the Prime Minister did not have the political will to honour the promises he made for the development of the Indian community

EXCLUSIVE

KLANG: Hindraf president P Waythamoothy claimed that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak delayed acting on all his requests despite 16 meetings with him from June 2003 to January this year.

In an interview with FMT, Waythamoorthy said after he was sworn in as senator and deputy minister on June 5, last year, he had an initial meeting with Najib.

And in subsequent meetings, he said he gave proposals in the naming and setting up of the structure of the unit which would be under him, apart from requesting a pro-rated budget to run it.

Waythamoorthy said that a number of ministers were involved in the meetings but none understood the content of Hindraf’s MoU with the government or the woes of the Malaysian Indian community.

“There were no decisions reached at these meetings…it was meeting after meeting without a resolve. It was promise after promise without any action.

“I was not heading anywhere with regards to the budget for 2013 and PM kept delaying the naming of the unit and the structure required to kick start our work.

“Every time we go into a meeting we talk over the same things. I even wrote letters reminding him of the need to resolve matters,” Waythamoorthy said.

Waythamoorthy said among the issues in his proposals during his eight months in the cabinet were:

• crime prevention and correction purpose
• self employment for single mothers
• micro credit loans for entrepreneurs
• education loans for Tamil primary schools location and upgrade
• university scholarship for displaced estate workers children
• proper temple and burial grounds
• achieving socio economic equity for Indians, targeted at 3%

Unpaid leave

Waythamoorthy revealed that in October last year, he decided to go on unpaid leave until Najib implemented plans to improve lives of poor Malaysian Indians.

On Nov 22, Najib agreed to set up a small unit with a RM750 million budget.

“I was satisfied with his assurance and the budget. Najib promised to name the unit in the next few days, but it went on for weeks and again I started writing to him to remind him of his promise.

“There were more meetings in January. This is when I sensed that Najib did not have the political will to honour the promises made,” said Waythamoorthy.

“I was in the cabinet for a purpose and did not intend to sit in the post if it did not bring any benefit for the people. Positions does not mean anything to me.

“If I cannot deliver the promises made to the poor Indians and underclass minority, I had said I will leave the position,” he added.

Waythamoorthy said the decision to resign from the cabinet was taken after consultation with Hindraf’s central committee.