Desperate to regain Indian support, Pakatan starts lying about BN

From Shiva Kartikeyan, FMT

When pushed into a corner, a wounded animal is most dangerous. The political animal that is Pakatan Rakyat is no different. Their four years in power have yielded nothing meaningful for Indians in Malaysia in the four states they have governed.

This is despite the fact that it was the Indians who swung the 2008 elections and voted almost en-masse for the Opposition. But its been made clear since then, by the Pakatan state governments in their fourtes that this was a mistake.

Now that it is apparent that the Indians are fed-up with them and are choosing to once again place their faith in Najib Tun Razak’s BN, the wounded Pakatan has launched a series of targeted attacks.

Not only do they belittle the concrete efforts taken by the Najib administration, they also spread malicious and dangerous lies. One of Pakatan’s most controversial moves has been to recently spread rumours that the BN Government has demolished Hindu temples. However, it is a fact that no temples have been demolished since 2009.

Pakatan also claims there are more than 300,000 Indians without proper documentation such as IC/BC and citizenship. In fact their appointed vice-president N Surendran even claimed recently that the number was as high as 450,000.

Using figures from a 1970’s population survey they projected that this was the number. While not subscribing to the sensationalism of these Pakatan leaders and refuting the exaggerated numbers, the BN government still recognised that this is a problem central to the lives of Indians in Malaysia.

Instead of just crying foul and waving about magical numbers,the BN through the MyDaftar initiative have solved more than 6,000 cases till March 2012. This initiative is an on-going programme as till today a special taskforce called SITF are still getting cases and resolving them. Citizenship is not only a human right but also a privilege awarded by a country and thus it takes time to process the numbers. However, the Pakatan in usual fashion are not helping the process but hindering it.

Another favourite Pakatan criticism is that the BN government is being biased in awarding scholarships to Indians. But the facts show an average of 10% JPA scholarship per year being awarded to Indians from 2009 to 2011. Furthermore, through 1MDB a total of 175 grants have been given out to Indian students.

Sure, there were decades of bias in the scholarship system but finally it seems the BN government under Najib is taking steps to redress this situation. In fact, Najib recently announced that the top 100 1st class Indian graduates in 2011 will be given a full fees scholarship to pursue their Masters or PhD in an IPTA in 2012.

Knowing that education is a hot-button political issue for the Indian community, Pakatan then goes on to claim the BN government has not been doing enough for the Tamil schools and is neglecting them.

However, from 2009 to 2012, the Government spent over RM340 million on a total of 258 SJKT projects which include new buildings, kindergartens, repairing roofs, upgrading canteens, library, toilets, wiring etc. A total of 75 new blocks with 680 classrooms were built from these allocations.

In 2012, 7 new licences for SJKTs were approved by Najib bringing the total number of Tamil school to 530. Compared to this, what have the four Pakatan state governments done in their four years in power? They complained about the Federal Government having all the power. They do this not realising that this effectively means that there is no use in Indians voting them into power at the state level.

Pakatan’s claim of bias against Indian students in institutes of higher education (IPTA) is also a lame political tactic. Some of the measures undertaken by the Najib administration for these students include, vegetarian food in the institutes and even a free bus service to take them the temple. The 100 scholarships for top Indian students in IPTAs are a further proof of the sincerity of PM’s efforts to uplift the community.

The latest Pakatan tactic has been to send out mass SMS to the rakyat to spread their malicious propaganda. It would be nice if they had included some facts in their SMS but they know that the facts do not support them. This is gutter politics and a shameless depolyment of underhanded tactics.

Everyone already knows all the mistakes the BN has made in the past. Najib even admitted to them. I’m more interested in what Pakatan has done in their four years in power to give me confidence that they should lead Malaysia. I suspect the answer is very close to nothing!

This BN government under Najib has worked hard to redress the 50 years of neglect experienced by Indians in Malaysia. The 2008 election was an eye-opener for the PM and he has taken some concrete steps to ensure the Indians put their trust back in the BN.

Four years is not a long time and yet the measures taken have resulted in a flow of support away from Pakatan. Even Pakatan’s Strategic Director, Rafizi Ramli, admits to this. The fact is that the BN government realises that the Indian community had been left behind.

It is often that we read about the misdeeds and past wrongs of the BN in the alternative media. But if they claim to be truly independent then surely they should also take the Pakatan Rakyat government in the four states they rule to task. Surely, they should be questioned about what exactly they have done for Tamil schools or Indian education, Indian jobs, Indian economic opportunities in four states after being in power for four years?

Pakatan deeply underrates the influence of Indian political will. Just as we swung to give them great gains in the last elections, things could swing against them the next time around and they would have only themselves to blame. Not the BN or Najib.