MIC demands apology from Harapan for 'lying' about 300k stateless Indians

MIC vice-president T Mohan today branded Pakatan Harapan leaders "liars" for purportedly spreading misleading information about the number of stateless Indians in Malaysia.

Mohan also demanded an apology from Harapan on behalf of Indian Malaysians after the Home Ministry revealed that it had only received 3,853 applications for identification documents from the community.

“The explanation of the Home Ministry that there are only 3,853 cases of stateless Indians, and not 300,000 as claimed before, is evidence that Harapan leaders are liars.

“This also shows that Harapan leaders have deceived the Indian community with false facts. Therefore, I demand that Harapan leaders apologise to the Indian community in Malaysia,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The revelation by Deputy Home Minister Mohd Azis Jamman in the Dewan Negara today contradicted the figure of 300,000 stateless Indians claimed by Pakatan Harapan lawmakers before the 14th general election.

Azis said out of the 3,853 cases, 1,638 have been resolved while the rest while the remaining 2,215 were being processed.

He said this in response to a question from Mohan, a senator, who wanted to know where Harapan lawmakers obtained the egregious figure.

Azis also told the upper house that the inaccurate estimation of 300,000 was obtained by then-opposition parliamentarians and that the statistic was not an official figure.

‘Challenge the figures’

Mohan also challenged Harapan leaders – especially its Indian lawmakers – to come forward and dispute the Home Ministry’s figures.

“When BN was in power, these leaders did not stop criticising the government despite repeated denials from the Home Ministry over the claim that there were 300,000 Indians in Malaysia without valid identification documents.

“How now? Are these geng-geng (gangs) ready to challenge the deputy home minister?”

Last year, DAP lawmakers M Kulasegaran, Charles Santiago and Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy had spoken out on the issue of stateless Indians.

Then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak clarified last year that the figure was closer to just 2,000.

Kulasegaran also came under fire from then-MIC president Dr S Subramaniam for seeking political support by exaggerating the number of stateless Indians in Malaysia.

For the record, the 300,000 stateless Indians figure was first brought up by Hindraf in 2006. -Mkini