Malay Govt. hoping to win back Malay Indian vote with aid project

Kuala Lumpur, Aug.17 (ANI):The Malaysian Government and the Malay Indian leadership is facing a major challenge in trying to redress issues of identity and financial hardship faced by rural Malay Indians.

Keen to win back Malay Indian community support, the country's ruling Barisan Nasional party has launched a pilot project to convince vulnerable Malay Indians to come forward with their problems.

Most of them are seeking redress of their financial woes and possession of red identity cards.

The challenge before the government and the Malaysian Indian Congress is how fast and how much of the community's problems can be resolved to end its alienation from the political leadership.

According to The Star, the programme was launched after a year of strategising among government officials, representatives of the MIC, Indian-based NGOs and think tanks, under the aegis of the Cabinet Committee on the Indian Community chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

At the launch, about 320 people made known their problems and requested for aid.

Resolving their longstanding woes is an important task for Najib in his quest to win back support of the Indians who had backed the Paka­­tan Rakyat but are now unhappy that their lives have not changed for the better. (ANI)