The Malaysian Insight

The 10-year Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) will not be effective in resolving the woes of the Indian community unless structural issues are dealt with, said economist Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid.

“MIB is the government’s aggressive intervention to help the Indians. But alone, it is not enough.  Reforms in education, labour and finance are needed to make it effective,” said Muhammed at the National Consultation on Malaysia’s Indian Dilemma conference in Petaling Jaya today.

In education, Muhammed said only children from well-to-do families would get access to scholarships if awarding them was based purely on merit.

“Which means certain policies need to be concurrently adjusted. Particularly the education policy, which (grants) access (to scholarships) purely on merit, which do not benefit the poor Indian, the poor Malay and the poor Chinese, but those from well-to-do backgrounds.”

Muhammed said intervention was also needed to boost Indian participation in other areas, such as business, and not leave things to market forces.

“Why? Because if you leave this to the market, only the rich will benefit. Like I said, if the poor kid did everything right, he is not going to do well compared with the rich kid who did everything wrong.”

The 10-year blueprint aims to resolve several key issues affecting the community, such as education, improving livelihoods and better social inclusion.

Under the plan the government aims to have the civil service comprise 7% of Indians by 2026. The government also aims to have Indian students make up 7% of enrolment at public universities.

RM500 million would be allocated to a Permodalan Nasional Bhd unit trust investment scheme for B40 category Indians, i.e. those with a household income of less than RM3,855.

The Home Ministry will also expedite the citizenship of stateless Indians who have been  residing or were born in Malaya before 1957.

At the session today, Muhammed also dismissed the idea that  certain issues were especially bad for a certain community.

“While we assume the poorest community is the Indians, it is actually the Bumiputera.  Perhaps because the poor Bumi is out of sight, (because) they are in rural areas. 

“The same goes for deaths in custody. The highest is among the Bumi, not Indians. Or in income inequality, the highest is among the Chinese,” said Muhammed.

“The truth is, many of us are in the same boat. We don’t realise that.”

He said these issues were national of national importance and should not be seen as just racial problems.

“When one group is not doing well, we need to support everyone. (But) there’s nothing wrong in using race when needed if it helps addressing or solving the issue,” said Muhammed.

The National Consultation on Malaysia’s Indian Dilemma is a one-day programme organised by Pakatan Harapan leaders to collect input from key figures and Indian interest groups on how to tackle issues in the community.

About 125 people attended the conference. – August 25, 2017.