Barisan Nasional would do all in its power to help Indians, says PM

SERDANG: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is mastering more Tamil words as he reaches out to the
Indian community, saying his pledges to them are not mere vetti pechu (empty talk) but nijam
(true).
Closing the Indian Progressive Fronts (IPF) 25th annual general assembly here yesterday, the
Prime Minister said Barisan Nasional would do all in its power to lend a helping hand.
This is my commitment to uplift the Indian community. We want to develop the spirit of
nambikei (trust) between the community and the Government, he said in his address.
Also present were IPF president Datuk M. Sambanthan and Barisan secretary-general Datuk Seri
Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.
Najib, who is the Barisan chairman, said he launched the Malaysian Indian Blueprint in April as
he realised that the Indian community had specific needs and faced challenges which were
unique to the community, such as the difficulty faced by former estate workers to transition into
life in cities, towns and semi-urban areas.
Citing an example of the Governments assistance, Najib said he recently asked for 700 more
places to be given to Indian students at higher learning institutions.
This was in addition to the 1,500 spots reserved for the community to undergo matriculation
courses, he added.
This is because I realise that the participation of Indian students at higher learning institutions is
still low. If we allow meritocracy to be implemented in full, then the ones who end up as victims
will be the Indian community, he added.
Najib said if the Government did not intervene, it was possible that the communitys
participation in higher learning institutions would go down to between 3% and 4%.
On the IPFs role, the Prime Minister said while the party remained a Friend of Barisan
Nasional at the moment, he would work to convince the coalitions component parties to extend
closer cooperation to it.

Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/10/09/najib-my-pledges-are-nijam-

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