MIC flags seven issues

http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/2272/46/

MIC Wants Govt To Give Urgent Attention To Seven Issues - Samy Vellu
Posted by kasee
Sunday, 03 February 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- The MIC wants the government to immediately act on seven critical issues that have caused "uneasiness" among the Indian community, among them, equitable participation in the share market, says party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
He said the issues should be resolved immediately as they have hindered the party's efforts to ensure the upward mobility of the Indians.

"The Indians have very high expectations and are demanding from MIC greater inclusion, access and their rights in the socio-economic development on par with the other communities," he said at the MIC special convention for branch chairmen here today.

Samy Vellu said the Indians wanted just and fair treatment from the government.

The one-day convention to prepare the MIC's grassroots machinery for the upcoming general election was opened by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

About 3,700 MIC branch chairmen and the party's elected representatives are attending the one-day convention.

Samy Vellu said the MIC wanted the government to ensure equitable participation in the share market through the establishment of a special mechanism such as the Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) in order to attain the three per cent equity target by 2020.

The other six issues are to ensure a high number of Indians have educational opportunities in public universities, especially in critical courses, provide greater employment and promotional opportunities in the public sector, increase the number of government scholarships, greater access to entrepreneurship training and micro-credit loans.

The establishment of a more effective urban poverty eradication programme to address the socio-economic dislocation of urban squatters and flat dwellers, and the setting up of a dedicated mechanism to monitor and evaluate the delivery of public sector services in a just and fair manner.

Samy Vellu said the MIC could only complement the programmes provided by the government for Indians but these initiatives were not sufficient to re-alter the socio-economic disadvantage of the community.

The Works Minister was confident that the government would take speedy action on the seven issues which have been forwarded to the government several months ago.

"We have been continuously discussing with the government to resolve these issues and I am confident of a speedy solution," he added.