KLANG: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today pledged to establish a ‘Little India’ in Klang and permit Hindu altars in private residentials should Indians help Barisan Nasional to recapture Selangor in the upcoming polls.
Rolling out a string of goodies at a MIC-organised rally in Meru today, Najib also took a swipe at the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government for allegedly demolishing seven Hindu temples in their five-year rule.
“The difference between Pakatan and BN is, we gave huge allocations to the Hindu houses of worship, whereas they had destructed seven temples, including an altar built in a private house in Sepang.
“We would like to ask them, under what reason and authority do they have to demolish a private altar?” he asked, in reference to the demolition done by Sepang Municipal Council last November.
Najib, who recently named himself as the Selangor BN chief, also pledged to turn Jalan Tengku Kelana into a Little India resembling Brickfields if BN wins back the state. Jalan Tengku Kelana is, as it is, unofficially known as Little India for its Indian businesses here.
“I would also resolve the Bukit Jalil Estate issue,” he said, referring to the land tussle between a federal agency and the former estate workers who had been occupying the land.
The 41 families are demanding for compensations and a plot of land in exchange for them to vacate their houses, but the demands have not been heeded so far.
Najib also announced that Indian students would be allowed to take a maximum 12 subjects, including Tamil language and Tamil literature, in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysian (SPM), as opposed to the previously announced 10.
Najib’s many promises to the Indian community today can be seen as a last ditch efforts to shore up Indian support for BN before a crucial general election which is imminent.
‘We fulfill our promises’
Besides promising future plans, the premier also boasted about his government aids to the community since 2009, including RM540 million allocations to Tamil schools, 5,000 identification cards to stateless Indians, RM150 million microcredit scheme and RM30 million Tekun loans.
Najib said the BN achievements were in stark contrast to Pakatan which promised to maintain all non-Muslims houses of worship in Selangor and preserve Kampung Buah Pala in Penang but failed to fulfill them.
“Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid (Ibrahim) even claimed that a manifesto is not a promise. If that is the case, then what is the worth of a manifesto?
“In BN, it always promise fulfilled. In Pakatan, it always empty promise,” he said.
He also said Pakatan has lied to the Indian community again when they justified that their latest election manifesto did not mention about Indian welfare because the manifesto transcended racial boundaries.
“This is a lie. The real reason is because they are taking Indian support for granted,” he said.
The MIC-organised rally started at noon and attracted some 40,000 people to SMK Meru.
The rally was touted to be the second show of strength for MIC, after the party successfully drew close to 100,000 Indians to its “Unity Ponggal” festival at Dataran Merdeka last month.
(Source: Free Malaysia Today)
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