A RM1.5 billion policy proposal for Indians under the 13th Malaysia Plan

K PRAGALATH

Klang MP V Ganabatirau has made a policy proposal that addressed the needs of Malaysian Indian community in view of the 13th Malaysia Plan with an annual budget of RM1.5 billion.

The proposal has six objectives with six key pillars.

The policy has six objectives as the following:

  1. Reduce income inequality and increase the participation of Indian households in mainstream economic activities.
  2. Enhance education access and performance for Indian students, especially from B40 backgrounds.
  3. Improve housing, social welfare, and healthcare access for Indian urban poor.
  4. Promote entrepreneurship and employment opportunities within strategic sectors.
  5. Strengthen youth development, cultural identity, and civic participation.
  6. Institutionalize governance mechanisms for policy delivery, monitoring, and accountability.

The first pillar is on education and skills development. Specifically this would involve an increase in targeted scholarships via JPA, and other agencies for Indian students in STEM and TVET programs.

At school level he proposed an overall upgrade for all Tamil (SJKT) schools with digital tools, trained staff and improved facilities.. In addition to that he proposed after school intervention progeams in high-risk communities via public private partnerships with NGOs.

Under the economic empowerment and entrepreneurship pillar, the Klang MP proposed a minimum of RM300 million in in soft loans and grants to Indian entrepreneurs through existing initiatives such as Tekun, SME Corp and Bank Negara initiatives.

At the district level he suggested a “One District One Indian Enterprise” programs to promote rural and semi-urban business hubs.

The third proposal under the economic pillar a call to the government to facilitate GLC procurement participation for Indian-owned SMEs with simplified onboarding.

The third pillar is on employment and labour mobility.

He wants the government to introduce mandatory ethnic-disaggregated employment data tracking in civil service and GLCs.

He also wants the relevant agencies to offer structured internship-to-employment programs for Indian graduates in public-private partnership.

Ganabatirao also wants companies to be incentivized to raise their diversity KPIs in hiring and human capital development.

The fourth pillar is the housing and social development under which he wants a reserved quota within the PPR and RUMAWIP projects for deserving Indian families, expansion of social protection with a targeted outreach to Indian B40 households abd improved public health outreach programs in urban Indian settlements (screening, mental health, addiction rehab).

For the fifth pillar on youth culture and community engagement he has called for the setting up of Indian youth empowerment hubs in major cities for leadership and digital skills and community volunteerism.

He has also suggested funding be provided for Hindu temples to run educational and welfare outreach. In addition he wants the government to launch a National Indian Cultural Heritage Preservation Program that covers language, performing arts and digital archives.

The sixth pillar is regarding implementation and monitoring mechanism. The implementation must be coordinated by a dedicated Indian community development unit within the EPU or Prime Minister’s Department with a multi agency task force.

“Integrate KPIs for the community upliftment across ministry KPIs in the 13th Malaysia Plan. Please involve stakeholders such as religious bodies and youth groups in planning, feedback and monitoring.

“In addition to that annual development report cards that tracks the outcome of the Indian community needs to be introduced.

“Use big data tools to monitor school dropout rates, job placement, household income improvements. This should be a reviewed by an independent committee every two years that would recommend course corrections as and when necessary.

To implement all of the above, the DAP lawmaker proposed an annual budget of RM1.5 billion annually that is distributed for all the six pillars.

  • RM300M for Education & TVET
  • RM400M for Economic Programs
  • RM250M for Housing & Welfare
  • RM150M for Youth & Community Programs
  • RM100M for Institutional Capacity and Governance
  • RM300M contingency & performance-based incentives