Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has directed relevant government departments and agencies to address several long-standing social, economic and educational issues affecting the minority ethnic Indian community in the country.
“We raised several issues for approval and many of them received the nod from the Prime Minister,” vice-president of the country’s largest ethnic Indian political party, MIC, Dr. S. Subramaniam, has said.
Dr. Subramaniam said in a statement that Mr. Najib, who chaired the special Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs on Monday, had directed the relevant departments and agencies to deal with the issues urgently.
Dr. Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resources Minister, said his Ministry, as secretariat for the Cabinet committee, would take follow-up action immediately.
On the re-development of Tamil schools, he said Mr. Najib had approved in-principle an extra allocation in view of the increased costs incurred.
A majority of ethnic Indians in Malaysia are Tamils.
Mr. Najib had also asked the Higher Education Ministry to consider recognising other existing pre-university courses to enable more Indians to enter public universities.
The Minister said that the target of a 7.4 per cent intake of Indians into the civil service would be expedited and that more employment and promotional opportunities would be created for Indians in government-linked companies (GLCs).
