Samy Vellu: Indian community doing well

December 9, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC president quoted hard figures yesterday to show that contrary to what Hindraf says, the Indian community is doing well.
Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said that close to 12 per cent of the working Indian population are professionals or are in managerial positions. And many more could join them, as 2,447 Indians have enrolled in public universities this year.

Samy Vellu was responding to questions on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), and its allegations that Indians in the country were facing ethnic cleansing, after the opening of the International Convention of Nagarathars.

Some 650 Chettiars are attending the three-day conference.

Pressed to comment on whether he had made any effort towards a dialogue with the Hindraf leaders, Samy Vellu said: “I attempted on a few occasions to ask them to sit down and talk with us, but they do not want to. They have an agenda that is only known to them.”
Samy Vellu said that Malaysian Indians could gauge for themselves how far they have come with the support of the government.

He added that the Indian students who got placements in local universities this year represent six per cent of the 40,116 students who were enrolled this year.

Currently, Indians make up about eight per cent of the population.

And of the 847,900 Indians in the workforce, 46,054, or 5.12 per cent, are in the civil service. The unemployment rate among Indians is at 3.1 per cent. The national average is about 3.4 per cent.

“We are also getting some help from the government for the AIMST Medical College in Sungai Petani. Many schools have been built for the community and funds are continuously allocated to upgrade the older schools,” he said.

He added that the government’s commitment to the Indian community is clear from the fact that under the microcredit scheme RM40 million has been budgeted for loans to Indians.

“The aim is to create at least 5,000 Indian small businessmen under the Ninth Malaysia Plan,” he said, adding that many squatter families are now housed in government flats.

He explained that the decision was made to rent out the units for five to six years, rather than sell them immediately to the occupants, to prevent those eligible for the homes selling for a quick gain. After that, a decision will be made as to whether the occupants can buy the unit.

Commenting on the convention, he said Malaysians could learn a lot about entrepreneurship from the Chettiar community, as they are known to be business savvy.

The chairman of the Law Commission of India Dr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Ashok Kantha also attended the opening of the convention.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/
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