| Opinion | Malaysia | 10 June 2017 | Asia Samachar |
The Malaysian Indian Blueprint is to all intents and purposes a “Malaysian Tamils Blueprint” as it focuses on improving the socio-economic status of the bottom 40% of the Indian community (a vast majority being Tamils) and upgrading Tamil education.
The blueprint talks about improving Indian vernacular education but no mention is made at all about Punjabi education which badly needs greater government funding. For the record, there is no mention at all of the Sikhs in the blueprint.
The words “Punjabis” and “Sikhism” are mentioned once in the blueprint. There is not even a single photograph focusing on the Sikhs or their institutions. What you have is a photograph on page 12 with a few Sikhs in the background together with hundreds of other Indians at a particular event.
SEE ALSO: Malaysia Indian Blueprint pushes Sikhs back to pre-2008
Ironically, the blueprint seeks greater inclusiveness of the Indian community (a minority within the Malaysian community) but is itself guilty of completely sidelining the Malaysian Sikh community.
One must “walk the talk” to promote trust and a sense of belonging. One must also not forget that the Sikh community contributed significantly towards nation building, particularly in maintaining law and order which greatly facilitated Malaysia’s economic development.
The Sikhs formed the backbone of the police and paramilitary forces of Malaya at least until 1914, and were numerically second only to the Malays before World War II. There are poor Sikh households that badly need support and assistance.
For example, according to Sardar Dheer Singh (a prominent activist) there are more than 350 poor and hardcore poor Sikh families in the Kinta District, Perak alone. I trust the Special Unit for Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community (SEDIC) will do the needful for the Sikh community which is part of the “Malaysian Indian” community.
Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi, who runs a management consultancy, completed his PhD in 2015 on the history of Sikhs in Malaya. He is passionate about writing history as “it is”.
* This is the opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]
RELATED NEWS:
Malaysia Indian Blueprint pushes Sikhs back to pre-2008 (Asia Samachar, 9 June 2017)
A blueprint designed for ALL (Asia Samachar, 23 May 2017)
Malaysian Indian Blueprint lacks inclusiveness (Asia Samachar, 20 May 2017)
Malaysia unveils 10-year blueprint for Malaysian Indians (Asia Samachar, 24 April 2017)
Sikhs of Malaya: Gone but not forgotten (Asia Samachar, 14 April 2017)
MIC unable to fully resolve Indian youth issues, says Dr Sarjit (Asia Samachar, 11 Oct 2016)
150 Sikh entrepreneurs attend business funding workshop (Asia Samachar, 2 Oct 2016)
Access to business funding know-how for Indian businesses (Asia Samachar, 19 Sept 2016)
Helping Indian entrepreneurs to understand how banks evaluate SMEs (Asia Samachar, 22 Aug 2016)
Sardar Budh Singh: Second Malayan Indian Congress president (Asia Samachar, 31 July 2016)
Managing gurdwara funds transparently, with accountability (Asia Samachar, 14 Feb 2016)
Symposium to help Sikh NGOs tap SEDIC funding (Asia Samachar, 14 Jan 2016)
Social Issues and Identity Threat of the Sikh Minority Community in Malaysia (Asia Samachar, 28 Dec 2015)
Malaysian Sikhs worry most about economy, divorce and conversion, reveals new ground breaking research (Asia Samachar, 24 Sept 2015)
4 Malaysian Sikh NGOs receive RM950,000 Federal funding (Asia Samachar, 5 Aug 2015)
