Najib’s India Policy a Success at Home and Abroad

The Asean-India commemorative summit has ended with a free trade agreement (FTA) on services that Malaysia helped coordinate. This follows the earlier FTA on goods in 2009, and will lead to a huge jump in regional trade at a time of continuing global uncertainty.

In several ways, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's India policy has been a success. Whether it is strengthening trade ties with India or encouraging the Indian community within Malaysia itself to participate further in the development of our nation, Najib has won plaudits for successfully engaging with both.

Malaysia has strong historic and cultural linkages with India, and under Najib this has been given an impetus since his positive meetings with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2010.

As a result, Malaysia-India trade that was expected to hit RM45 billion in 2015 has already reached that milestone in 2012, three years early. Both countries have now revised their 2015 target to RM60 billion, which is an impressive achievement given that India's economy is growing at its slowest pace in a decade.

At home, the Prime Minister's engagement with the Indian community could well play a deciding role in the upcoming general election.

There are 1.9 million Indians in Malaysia, comprising 7.3 per cent of the population. They are the third largest ethnic group, after the Malays and Chinese.


According to Merdeka Center's latest survey, 68 per cent of Indian voters support Najib. He has, after all, implemented several initiatives for the community, including a micro-credit scheme for low-income Indian families. He has also attracted broad support across our multi-ethnic society for his 1Malaysia programme.

Najib has also shown that he is the Prime Minister of all Malaysians, empathising with the Indian community and participating in its cultural actvities. He has made it a point to attend the Thaipusam celebration at Batu Caves every year since becoming PM, despite criticism from PAS and Islamist groups.

The Prime Minister is therefore on track to win the Indian vote in the upcoming general election, with his renewed commitment to the community and the opportunities that the 1Malaysia programme offers all sections of the population to benefit from the nation's continued growth.

No wonder the Opposition has already given up on the Indian vote. PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli had admitted in April that PKR expects to lose more than one-third of its GE 12 Indian voteshare to BN in GE 13.
Pakatan Rakyat still believes in its political calculations that dwindling Indian support will somehow be compensated by Chinese and Malay votes. This complacency by Anwar and his friends could cost the Opposition dearly on polling day – the Indian community may not form a majority in any constituency on its own, but it could well play a crucial kingmaker role.

And going by Najib's successful track record, BN will be the beneficiary of this growing Indian support.

(Source: The Choice)