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.
Najib said this was very significant because the percentage of Indians
entering universities was rather low, and he hoped that it would go up
to a more acceptable level.
“I also announced that 100 top Indian students will be given
scholarships to continue their studies at Masters and PhD levels,” he
said.
‘Ore Malaysia’ and ‘Nambikai’
Asked by a deejay of the popular Tamil radio station what Tamil words he
knew, Najib said he had very basic knowledge like everybody else in
that language but he progressed on his own when he introduced 1Malaysia.
“I had to know what 1Malaysia is in Tamil. So, I learned “Ore Malaysia”
(means 1Malaysia). When I started engaging more with the Tamil
community, and the engagement became very frequent, I picked up other
words such as “Nambikai”, which means trust.
“You know, you must have the trust of the community, so that we can move
forward together. When I went to the Sri Murugan Centre (SMC), I heard a
part of their slogan “Acchamillai” which means, no fear, we must
overcome any obstacle to success.
“When I launched the Barisan Nasional convention, I used the Tamil
expression, which is a proverb that means to give them a sense that this
is a winning team. If this team can’t win, other teams cannot win. And I
love to learn more,” he said.
On beating stress and soccer
Answering a question from a caller on the main challenges that he faced
daily as the prime minister, he said there were many challenges but time
management was critical since there were many demands that needed to be
fulfilled.
“You just have to be able to prioritise and be able to cope with the
multitude of demands on your time, in terms of appearances, in terms of
being in the office, in terms of people wanting to see you, and try to
get in a day the maximum amount of work that can be done and results
that can be achieved,” he said.
Najib said he wanted to ensure that everything could be translated in
terms of productive work, although in politics it did not quite work out
that way.
He said that prayers, exercising regularly and doing things that he
would really enjoy — like watching his favourite football team play and
reading a good book — was his way of combating daily stress.
He also said that the most important thing was to try to block out
whatever that was troubling when at home, especially when about to go to
sleep.
“Don’t bring problems in the office to the home, and find things that
really will relax you and put you in a very relaxed state of mind,” he
said.
Asked to comment on the English Premier League (EPL) match between
Manchester United and Manchester City on April 30, Najib, who is a great
fan of the Red Devils, said it would be a very tough game because the
Citizens were also a good team.
Asked about the European Champions League final clash between Chelsea
and Bayern Munich, he said it would be a tough match as well.
During the show, the prime minister also took part in the “Battle of the
Sexes”, a competition in the programme that requires participants, both
male and female, to answer questions and compete with the deejays in a
quiz on football.
- Bernama
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