INDIAN COMMUNITY WILL NOT BE SIDELINED

SERDANG (Malaysia), Oct 10 (Bernama) -- The Indian community in the country
will not be sidelined in any development by the government because they are
Malaysians and will always be given priority, Najib Razak said Saturday.

The prime minister said Malaysia was a fortunate country because it was
blessed with all sorts of riches and the Indian community, like the other
communities in the country, had contributed to this wealth.

He said the early arrival of the Indians in the then Malaya as estate
workers and their direct involvement in building the railway tracks had greatly
helped in developing the country.

"So it's only fair that we give the Indian community their dues. We will
give the Malays what they should have, we will give the Chinese what they should
have and we will give the Indians what they should have. This is the
government's intention," he said when launching Parti Makkal Sakti Malaysia
here.

He said the government under his administration would always be guided by
the 1Malaysia philosophy when drawing up programmes that would do justice to all
strata of the society.

In this matter, he said, various measures had been implemented to raise the
social and educational status of the Indian community, including raising the
status of Tamil primary schools and increasing the percentage of Indian workers
in the public sector.

"We have done a lot for the Indian community, like giving an allocation of
over RM100 million (US$29.5 million) recently to raise the status of Tamil
schools, RM15 million (US$4.4 million) for the economic fund for small
businesses to provide micro-credit for the Indian community, 15 per cent
allocation in the Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (Malaysia's latest unit trust) and
training 2,635 Indian youths in various skills.

"The latest is that the government will build a 1Malaysia hostel for
students of all races to live together and be sent to the best schools in the
Klang Valley, especially those in Kuala Lumpur," he added.

All these marked the start of the aid for the Indian community which would
continue as long as they were willing to help and support the government, he
said.

This was a promise that he would fulfil as a prime minsiter who was guided
by the principle of justice for everyone, he added.

Najib also said that the best way to help the Indian community was by
cooperating with and supporting the government of the day, not be holding street
demonstrations or gatherings.

"The best way is to cooperate with the government through Makkal Sakti and
we can sit down to discuss what needs to be done. This is the best way to build
the future, to make the country strong, successful and respected," he said.
-- BERNAMA