Janji Mesti Ditepati

It therefore must come to a complete disappointment to many that after 5 months of BN being voted into power, other than the HINDRAF chair Waytha Moorthy being appointed a Deputy Minister, nothing else has happened.

Paraman Subramaniam 

On 18/04/2013 Malaysian Indians throughout the country were in awe to see PM Najib step up on stage and issue a public apology on the shortcomings as well as the lapses in delivery of the BN government for the Indian community.

He had expressed that ‘real change’ can only come from within BN. Najib then went on to witness the official signing ceremony of the MOU document between BN and HINDRAF which lays out the specific Government interventions necessary for the improvement of the socio-economic status of the Malaysian Indian poor over the period of the 5 years of the next Parliament from 2013 to 2018.

These 4 major areas are:

1. Uplifting Displaced Estate Workers (DEW), synonymous with low income Indian households.

2. Addressing Statelessness among the Malaysian Indian poor.

3. Increasing Educational Opportunities from Pre-school to University.

4. Increasing Employment and Business Opportunities.

There was a great sense of relief tinged with joy for many Indians, particularly to the thousands of HINDRAF supporters that had sacrificed blood, sweat and tears during the November 25th 2007 rally, hoping to bring about improved living standards of the Indian community that suffer the lowest demographic index in the country. No Malaysian Government, caretaker or not, had ever signed anything like this in full public view.

It therefore must come to a complete disappointment to many that after 5 months of BN being voted into power, other than the HINDRAF chair Waytha Moorthy being appointed a Deputy Minister, nothing else has happened.

The unit headed by Waytha Moorthy in the Prime Minister’s department has yet to be given a name. The charter of this unit has yet to be publicly confirmed. The infrastructure proposal for the unit has not been bought off. The Expert Steering Committee which is supposed to come out with the specific plan for addressing the income opportunities, housing and skills training for the Displaced Estate workers has yet to be even identified. The Budget proposed for 2013 has still not been deliberated upon, not to even mention the planning for the 2014 budget.

If it needs be reminded that Najib did not witness the official signing of the MOU between BN and HINDRAF in his individual capacity. He did so as the chairman of the BN coalition. Najib is also the President of the dominant UMNO party which is the leading party of all Malays in this country. As was seen in the last general elections, Malays in general still hold UMNO very dearly to their hearts. Malays traditionally are noted to be loyal and honest. In the villages, Malays are regarded as self-respecting people who keep their promises and their word most often than not, is their honour. Najib being the leader of the dominant Malay political party in this country, must realise that he carries on his shoulders not just his own words of ‘Janji Ditepati’ but also that of the integrity of the Malay race. His father Tun Abdul Razak is also dearly revered by the Malay community and as such, promises made must be fulfilled to not bring dishonour to his name. Failure to do so will not only tarnish the good name of his father but also the Malay community that he leads.

Malaysia has already suffered a deterioration in its sovereign credit worthiness by the Fitch ratings that revised the country’s credit rating outlook from stable to negative. The last thing the BN government will want to project to the international business community is that it is not credit worthy to any MOU document that it is signatory to.