British lords praise Najib

 

GEORGE TOWN: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s decision to engage Hindraf to address ethnic Indian issues has won praise from members of the British House of Lords.

Lord Diljit Rana called it a wise move and Baroness Sandip Verma said it showed Najib’s seriousness in addressing issues of concern to the Indian community.

Both spoke yesterday at a ceremony to honour Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy’s appointments as a senator and deputy minister in charge of Indian affairs.

The event, sponsored by Rana and Verma, was held in the British upper house. Among the guests were Malaysia’s Deputy High Commissioner to Britain, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah. Several Malaysians residing in London and representatives of various civic groups also attended.

Tekun Provides The Lifeline For Indian Entrepreneurs

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- M.Jayaseelan had been working as a goldsmith at a Chinese company since 1989, and his dream of venturing on his own had been hindered because of the lack of capital.

Yet all that changed four months ago when he sought a loan from the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) to purchase new jewellery making tools and equipment to set off on his own.

"I saw an advertisement of the Special Secretariat for the Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (SEED). I applied through the Indian Entrepreneur Development Scheme (SPUMI) and my loan was approved," said the proud owner of Kamalam Gems and Jewels to Bernama.

Jayaseelan, like the thousands of Indians in the country face an uphill task in starting or expanding business as the avenues to raise capital is extremely limited.

This is where Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stepped in with funds RM180 million, dedicated to Indian traders and businessmen through various organisations.

Najib: I’ll increase Indians’ equity to 3%

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak rolled out a list of pro-Indian policies before a large crowd gathered at the Ponggal festival celebration last night, including the pledge to increase Indians’ economic equity in the country to 3%.

He told some tens of thousands of Indians at Dataran Merdeka that his cabinet would also come out with three additional scopes of work with regards to the community.

“These are namely, to increase Indians’ equity to three percent, to provide access in higher education and to find ways to reduce crime rate and the involvement of Indians in crimes,” he said to a cheering crowd.

Though the latest Indian equity figure was unclear, it was reported that the Indian equity has dropped from 1.5% to 1.2% during the period of Eight Malaysia Plan (2001-2005).

The premier also promised to look into converting qualified partially-funded Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT) to be fully-funded. He did not explain how schools would qualify for this scheme.

Allocation for Chinese and Tamil schools

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will provide a special budget allocation for Chinese and Tamil schools beginning next year, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Announcing this in his Thaipusam message at Batu Caves, he said this was part of the Government’s commitment to help better vernacular schools.

He pointed out that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had earlier announced a RM100mil allocation for the development of SJKTs in Budget 2012 and 2013, while the Education Ministry had channelled management funds to Tamil schools in 2011 (RM584.38mil) and 2012 (RM660.35mil).

He said the Barisan Nasional government had launched many initiatives for the Indian community, including the MyDaftar programme.

(Source: The Star Online)

Najib: Govt committed in efforts to uplift Indian community

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak wants all Malaysian Hindus to know that the government is committed in continuing its efforts to uplift the Indian community.

In his latest entry in the 1Malaysia Blog entitled Thaipusam 2013, Najib said the government will stand by all Malaysian Hindus and work together towards overcoming challenges that they faced and achieve the success.

Najib added that with continued 'nambikei' or trust between government and the people, everything set out by the government for the Indian community will surely be achieved.

"I take this opportunity to extend my greetings to all Hindus in Malaysia on the occasion of Thaipusam, tomorrow," he said. - Bernama

(Source: The Star Online See full message of PM here.)

1MISM to launch outreach programme in Chennai

PETALING JAYA: The 1Malaysia Indian Student Movement (1MISM) is looking to expand its global outreach programme by launching its movement in Chennai, India.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Depart-ment Datuk Seri G. Palanivel, who is also MIC president, will be the main guest at the launch tomorrow.

Launched in 2011 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, 1MISM was established to protect the rights and welfare of Indian university students.

It is also a platform for its members to engage in various initiatives such as professional development, cultural and poli- tical awareness as well as community services.

Two months ago, the 1MISM Global Outreach Programme launched its international wing in Indonesia.

Its aim is to function as a one-stop centre to disseminate information on the Govern-ment's Transformation Plan.

The outreach programme also seeks to promote unity and patriotism among Malay-sian Indian students abroad.

(Source: The Star Online)

Indian-Malaysians urged to vote for government

KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian community should continue to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) “as it has been proven that the coalition is capable of championing the cause of the people,” said Kota Tinggi Barisan Nasional (BN) division chairman Syed Hamid Albar.

He said there was no reason for them to vote for the opposition who only aspired to capture Putrajaya.
He said the government had provided various needs of the Indian community including in terms of education, the economy and raising the living standard of the community.

“What is needed is that all of us work hard so that no one is left behind and deprived of development and has to face hardship and poverty,” he said at a handing over of contributions in conjunction with the Deepavali celebrations, at the office of the Kota Tinggi MIC division.

At the function, Syed Hamid handed over contributions in the form of food and RM100 in cash to 80 recipients.
In October, leaders also pushed the community to support the government in elections to be held before April next year. A number of reports suggested that the minority community was galvanizing behind the BN.

MIC President G Palanivel said the Indian community’s support of the government was “increasing significantly as a result of the transformation programs implemented by Prime Minister Najib Razak.”

Indians were being provided with more business and educational opportunities, he added.

“Therefore, the Indian community is urged to continue supporting the Barisan Nasional government as it has proven that it cares for all Malaysians, regardless of race,” he said.

He was speaking at a Family Day organized by the Temerloh MIC Youth and Women movements, which was also attended by Temerloh member of parliament and Higher Education deputy minister, Saifuddin Abdullah.

The Indian vote is being seen as vital in the upcoming election and local analysts have told Bikyamasr.com that the community remains split on who to vote for.

The opposition is trying to oust the ruling government for the first time since Malaysia became independent of Britain. - BM

(Source: www.bikyamasr.com)