Malaysian minister pledges help for ethnic Indians

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian will initiate a slew of measures, including access to micro-credit facilities and skills training, to improve the economic condition of its 2.1 million ethnic Indians, a senior minister said Wednesday.

Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam said the citizenship and welfare issues of the Indian community would be resolved by the end of next year.

He said the cabinet committee’s special task force has identified 20 areas in the country with a high concentration of Indians, such as Selangor, Penang, Johor and Perak states, where it will start work in January to address the issues.

“These issues need to be tackled so that the poverty rate among Indians in the country can be reduced,” he told reporters here.

Subramaniam, who is the chairman of the task force, said various programmes and workshops would be held with the cooperation of 11 government agencies to educate the community on ways to raise its income and bring about economic transformation.

He said the task force will look into employment opportunities, access to micro-credit facilities and skills training for the ethnic Indians, the official Bernama news agency reported.

“As of the middle of this year, a total of 4,948 cases (citizenship and welfare cases involving Indians) were registered under the Program Mesra Rakyat 1Malaysia and so far 35 percent of the cases have been resolved,” he said.

The ehtnic Indian community here comprises people from south India, mainly Tamils, besides Punjab and West Bengal.

Many members of the community are seeking citizenship and identity cards that would enable them to get jobs and community welfare benefits.

The task force was formed this year to realise Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s aspiration to extend government help for the ethnic Indians.