No. 135-3-A, Jalan Toman 7,
Kemayan Square,
70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
Malaysia.
Tel : +606-7672995/6
Fax: +6-06-7672997
Email waytha@hotmail.com
Y.A.B. DATO’ SERI ABDULLAH AHMAD BADAWI
Prime Minister of Malaysia
Block Utama,
Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62502 Putrajaya
03/07/2008
Dear Y.A.B,
Re: Urgent Royal Commission of Equity on the Indian Poor who are facing critical problems and more so in the light of the recent petrol price hike by 41%.
Royal Commission on the Indian poor by UMNO at Federal level and Royal Commission equivalent in all the five states of Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan by PKR, DAP and PAS should be set up urgently. H.R.H Sultan Azlan Shah when opening the Perak State Legislative Assembly had said “the poverty eradication programmme which included improving the lives of thr rural and urban poor and orang asli community should be the main agenda for Perak to achieve developed status (NST 25/06/2008). It is because the Indians poor had never been specifically singled out/mentioned/highlighted and given a special classification by the Government and the newly founded opposition led Government that after 50 years of independence the Indians are suffering from critical issues. It was bad enough when 40,000 Indian children had been denied birth certificates in the state of Selangor alone. But to add insult to injury at least 10 Indian pupils from Kapar Methodist Tamil School were sacked from school as they did not have birth certificates. This does not happen in any other part of the world except to the Indians and only exclusively in Malaysia. Things are not getting better but worse on a day to day basis. Because of poverty and the lack of equal opportunities the suicide rate among the Indians are 800% higher than that for the Malays. The single parent rate among the Indians because of poverty and unequal is five times higher for the Indians as opposed to the Chinese and highest in Malaysia (154:29) Tamil Nesan 21/06/08.
Further to the 18 point demands on the critical Indian issues faced by the Indians (copy enclosed) forwarded to Y.A.B. the Prime Minister and copied to the leaders of PKR, DAP and PAS, we regret to note that there has been no specific financial allocations from both UMNO and also PKR, DAP and PAS both at Federal states and the five states ruled by PKR, DAP and PAS in the budget, Mid Term Review (MTR) of the Ninth Malaysian Plan and the 2009 Budget. We hereby appeal for specific allocations of RM 5 Billion by the Federal UMNO government and RM 100 million from each state to address the critical problems faced by especially 70% of the Indians in Malaysia who are poor or in the hardcore poor category.
This request for RM 5 Billion is justified as Malaysia’s total revenue is RM 142 Billion (NST 18/06/08 Pg 23), RM25 Billion for the poor in Sabah alone (NST 21/6/08 Pg 4). The total voters of Sabah are 802,683 and the total number of Indian voter are also thereabouts at 7145,934 (NST Election pullout 10/03/08 at page Y35) but why the inequality especially as this also contravenes Article 8 of the Federal Constitution. The RM 100 Million request from the state PKR, DAP and PAS governments is justified based on the RM 100 million for the pig farming project in Sepang, Selangor.
In interim we hereby call upon the federal Government to urgently appoint a Royal Commission Enquiry on the Indian poor with the view to recognize the critical Indian problems aforementioned and the proposals, recommendations and yearly financial allocations of RM 5 Billion to help alienate their problems. As similar Commission should be set up by the PKR, DAP and PAS controlled states with the same aim and objectives but at the state level.
We seek your kind indulgence accordingly.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
P. Waytha Moorthy
(Chairman)
Cc:
Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Adviser
National Justice Party
17, Jalan 16/2, Petaling Jaya
46350, Selangor,
Malaysia
Tel: 03-7956 6444 , Fax: 03-7956 5444
Y.B. Lim Kit Siang
Adviser Democratic Action Party
No 24 Jalan 20/9,
Paramount Garden
46300 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03 7957 8022 , Fax: 03 7957 5718
Y.B. Dato Seri Hadi Awang
PAS President
Parti Islam SeMalaysia
No 318A Jalan Raja Laut,
50350 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: 03 2692 5000 , Fax: 03 2693 8399
PEOPLE'S POWER
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