5-year plans overlooked Indians because of bias, says DAP man

 

Any plans and policies to develop the Indian community will suffer from a lack of political will to execute them, a DAP leader said.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s five-year plans have failed to make an impact on developing the local Indian community because the government favoured and gave priority to developing the Malay community, a DAP leader has said.

DAP central executive committee member P Ramasamy said in a posting today: “The problem is not so much the plans, but the racial and religious divide that continues to wreak havoc on the just and equal development of the ethnic communities other than Malays, principally the Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli and others.”

He said the five-year plans were not independently done, but reflected the political, economic and psychological biases and prejudices of the governments in power – “governments steeped in ethnic and religious ideology of majoritarianism” as he put it.

Ramasamy said there would be a lack of political will to implement and execute any plans and policies in place to develop the Indian community.

P Ramasamy.

“There is no point in arguing about the inclusion of Indians in the plan. Even if they had been included, it might be just a symbolic gesture. Nothing concrete will emerge out of this. Indians will continue to be neglected and forgotten in this country,” he said.

Ramasamy’s posting came hours after FMT published a letter by Denison Jayasooria, a sociologist and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia research fellow, who lamented a lack of public engagement with the Malaysian Indian community in the development of the 12th Malaysia Plan.

Jayasooria said inclusive development must stem from participation in planning and decision-making, and greater outreach to different communities. - FMT