‘Grant citizenship to Malaysian-born
stateless Indians without further delay’
By Chua Jui Meng
TOP: National
Indian Action Team chairman Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim delivering his fiery speech
with Chua seated waiting for his turn to deliver his ceramah. BOTTOM: Chua giving his speech at the Gelang Patah PKR
Deepavali Open House, off Jalan Scudai Baru on Dec 16, 2012.
PAKATAN
Rakyat (PR) has demanded that all stateless Indians born in Malaysia be granted
citizenship and given blue identity cards without any further delay.
This
was relayed to the National Registration Department (NRD) by PR leaders and MPs
who supported the 12.12.12 1,000-people stateless Indians’ protest in
Putrajaya.
The
NRD director-general Jariah Mohd Said gave all sorts of excuses for the
protracted plight of stateless Indians in Malaysia.
She
wanted the stateless to provide documents like birth certificates, marriage
certificates and so on.
That’s
ridiculous and just technical excuses. Did the foreigners, like Bangladeshis,
Pakistanis and Moros (the Philippines’ Mindanao) need such documents to be
granted citizenship?
PR
de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has assured stateless Indians in Malaysia that
citizenship will be granted without any further delay when the Pakatan
government is formed after the 13th General Election.
Malaysian
Indians must, therefore, help their stateless brothers and sisters by giving us
the needed votes and mandate to govern.
PR’s
Buku Jingga (Orange Book) and
alternative Budget 2013 contain policies and fiscal measures that are
people-centric aimed at benefiting all Malaysians, irrespective of race.
Unlike
Barisan Nasional (BN)’s offer of only sweeteners containing one-off cash
handouts to buy your votes, we have both short and long-term measures to
forward Malaysia’s socio-economic growth.
TOP: Chua distributing bags containing sundries and rice to
the needy at the Gelang Patah PKR Deepavali Open House. BOTTOM: Chua giving
away hampers to senior citizens or their representatives.
Why
do you think Anwar has promised that the retail price of oil would be reduced
within 24 hours upon the swearing-in of a PR prime minister?
This
will help ease the financial burden of all Malaysians, irrespective of race.
A
reduction in the price of oil will reduce the cost of transportation of goods
and services, and will therefore also reduce the price of essentials and
foodstuffs.
A
PR government is committed to implement sweeping reforms in the government administration,
economy and education.
TOP: Chua receiving an envelope containing membership
application forms from the Indian community in Gelang Patah. BOTTOM: One for
the album after a successful Deepavali Open House cum ceramah.
Among
the reforms to be realised within 100 days of governance are:
Ø Reforming
institutions like the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Attorney-General's Chambers and the Royal Malaysian Police to return authority to the government
administration system;
Ø Ordering Khazanah
Bhd, Employees Provident Fund and all government agencies with highway
concessions to facilitate the takeover of highway assets for the abolishment of
tolls;
Ø Reshuffling the
national subsidy structure to reduce the subsidy to the private sector, such as
the RM19 billion gas subsidy, and channel the savings to the people;
Ø Recognising the
role and merits of civil servants by reviewing their salary structure starting
by raising their allowance to RM500 a month;
Ø Making water the
peoples’ right by restoring all private sector water management concessions to
the government;
Ø Providing free
Wi-Fi internet connectivity to the people in urban and semi-urban areas; and
Ø Increasing the
oil royalty for Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan to 20%, up from the current
5%.
These
are really noble efforts to stimulate economic growth for the benefit of all
Malaysians, not BN-Umno cronies.
For
the Indians, change must surely be the only option after 55 years of suffering
under BN-Umno.
