Malaysian Indian Blueprint just empty promises, say Harapan leaders

The new Malaysian Indian Blueprint will likely be another "empty promise" from the Umno-BN government, in an attempt to win over the Indian community leading up to the 14th General Election, said Pakatan Harapan leaders.

In a joint statement released by PKR Kapar MP Manivanan Gowin, Amanah committee member Gopalan Papachan and DAP Raub MP Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, they said the launch of the blueprint is meant to draw the attention away from the government's failure to maintain the well-being of the rakyat.

"After examining media reports on (the blueprint), we think that the 10-year action plan is only illustrative without any clear details of its execution.

"We are confident that the plan will not achieve its objectives in solving all the problems faced by the 1.7 million Indians in this country.

"Based on past experiences, we also think this announcement is nothing more than just a 'replay' by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to obscure the failures of the government in taking care of all races in this country," they said in their statement today.

They also reminded that there have been many programs targeted at uplifting Indians announced by BN previously but all of them have ended without much success.

For example, the Grocery Store Transformation Program (Tukar), which was announced in the Budget 2012, failed to increase the economic status of Indians after five years, they pointed out.

They also claimed that Najib reneged on his promise to defend the plight of poor Indians through the memorandum of understanding between Hindraf and BN, signed two weeks before the 13th General Election.

"Is the failure to fulfill that plan not the biggest betrayal to the Indian community from the Umno-BN government?

"The Indian community need to ask themselves - is Najib truly sincere in helping the Indians?" the Pakatan Harapan leaders questioned.

They pointed to Penang and Selangor, led by Pakatan Harapan governments, saying that the people in those two states have benefited from their administration.

It is time, they said, for the Indian community and everyone else to give Pakatan Harapan a chance to govern the country instead, to show what they can do.

Najib had launched the Malaysian Indian Blueprint on April 23, approving millions of ringgit in allocations to assist the country's ethnic Indians.

He had also denied that it was all an "act" for the coming general election and stressed that it was instead a serious effort.

The allocations include RM40 million for higher education assistance, RM500 million to set up a revolving fund to provide loans to ethnic Indian entrepreneurs and RM500 million under Permodalan Nasional Bhd, targeting the bottom 40 percent income group (B40) of the Indian Malaysian community.- Mkini