Najib Accords Due Honour, Respect For Tamil Writers In Malaysia, Says Thanenthiran

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has accorded due honour and respect and has given hope to Tamil writers in the country for their literary works to be published in the form of books.

Najib's recognition and appreciation would spur and inspire the younger set to produce more literary works, Makkal Sakti president Datuk R.S. Thanenthiran said.

He said Najib was the only prime minister who have to date launched 10 Tamil books written by Malaysian writers.

"Najib's seriousness to value and appreciate the role played by Tamil writers gives ample avenue for them to publish more books and to help young and budding authors to hone their writing skills," he told Bernama.

Thanenthiran said strong emphasis should be given to produce Tamil literary works as they could be used as a medium of reference for the current developments unravelling and historical events that have happened in the country.

He said the publishing of Tamil literary works must be continued to preserve the Indians' cultural heritage and Tamil literature for the benefit of the younger generation.

‘Najib has solutions for Indians’

KUALA LUMPUR: BARISAN Nasional is the Indian community's solution. Indians in the country recognise that the BN government has been executing tangible actions and sound policies to uplift their community.

MIC vice-president Datuk S.K. Devamany said Indians in the country had over the past few years been closely evaluating programmes implemented by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration and concluded that Pakatan Rakyat  paled in comparison.

"They see BN's clear direction.  Najib understands and recognises the weaknesses and problems of the Indian community, and has been addressing them."

He said while the BN government had been addressing issues like their religious needs, loans for businesses and educational opportunities, the same couldn't be said about the opposition.

"In comparison, what has the opposition done in their respective states?  Selangor does not want to provide land for us to build Tamil schools while Penang gives a few thousand ringgit here and there for Tamil schools.

"The BN government, on the other hand, gave RM560 million for the development of Tamil schools in the country."

Indian Athma Sakthi Association president  and founder M. Vasantha Kumar said Indians had not only been neglected by Pakatan but its leaders who had voiced out for the community had also been "killed" politically.

"Look what happened to DAP's Professor Dr P. Ramasamy and Parti Keadilan Rakyat's S. Manika- vasagam. Those who champion the Indians are not allowed to grow. 

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.

‘Achamillai’ Najib sets 5-year target for Indians

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said today he hoped to see a vast improvement in the status and welfare of the Indian community in the country over the next five years.

Najib said he also wanted to see the Indian community fully integrated into the mainstream of national economic development.

“I hope that within (the next) five years, we will see the improvement of the Indian community,” he said during an hour-long interview with deejays Aanantha and Uthaya on the “Kalakkal Kaalai” breakfast show over THR Raaga radio.

“As you know, our target is to double our income level by 2020, basically to about US$15,000 per capita,” he told the listeners.

“We target better and better, and we will deliver what we promise,” he said.

Responding to a question from a listener, Najib said the government had achieved much for the Indian community over the last two years and there was greater recognition and awareness of problems faced by Indians.

He said new approaches were taken in recognising and tackling these problems, even from the time when he was the deputy prime minister and chaired the Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs.

“Some of the things done include the allocation for Tamil schools, where it is the largest ever in our history. The latest decision, for example, is (providing) 1,000 additional places in our matriculation colleges, starting from this year. Previously, it was just 500,” he said.