Indian Community Not Neglected By Govt Says Anwar

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Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim meeting the Indian community at an event in Tambun, Perak, today. (Bernama pic)IPOH: Additional allocations provided by the unity government specifically to improve the socio-economic status of the Indian community are proof that the government does not neglect them, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar said the government previously allocated RM100 million to the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) in addition to distributing RM50 million each to the national entrepreneurial group economic fund (Tekun Nasional) and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia for the Indian community.
“If representatives of the Indian community speak to me (about the welfare of the community), I will try to solve it. Look, some people say Mitra (has issues), but that’s not true. Mitra alone (received) RM100 million.
“Under Tekun (for) small Indian traders, we added RM50 million, and previously Amanah Ikhtiar was for poor villagers, we helped everyone.
“Now, we also added RM50 million to Amanah Ikhtiar for the Indian community, so it’s not true to say we don’t care,” he said at an event with the Indian community in Tambun here today.
Anwar, who is also the Tambun MP, said the steps taken by the government to assist the Indian community followed feedback and discussions with state executive councillors, assemblymen and representatives of the community.
part in technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
“I also told Petronas to give scholarships to the Indian community. Previously, it focused on the Malay community, which is okay, but now for the Indian community, training and staffing opportunities are available while more than 1,000 scholarships have been provided.
“So if the (Indian) community leaders do not talk about this and only express anger, people will not sympathise. Complaints are okay, but don’t say things like Anwar does not care at all. This is not true, see all that we have provided, and these are all new.”
Anwar also said he has asked education minister Fadhlina Sidek to train more Tamil language teachers so that students who wish to learn the language would not face any shortage of teachers.
“(The national language) is Malay, but if Chinese children want to learn Mandarin, we give them the opportunity. We don’t lose anything; our country benefits if our children know Tamil, Chinese and Arabic,” he said.
He also said the government and the community needed to work together to save the country from corruption and “greedy leaders” and to end racism.
“We have to save this country from racists and religious fanatics from any race or religion. And as long as I’m the prime minister, I will do what is possible to save this country,” he said. - FMT

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