Punjabis excluded from 1.5 billion AS1M shares

Kamles Kumar Kamles Kumar Updated 6 years ago · Published on 30 Jan 2018 12:15PM · 1 Comments

Those registered as Punjabi, Sikh and Kaur on their MyKad are ineligible to buy Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) units reserved under the Indian category. – AFP pic, January 30, 2018.

FOLLOWING news that Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) units were extended to Indian Malaysians under Budget 2018, Punjabis now find themselves excluded as their ethnicity is not recognised in fund manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB)’s registration system.

MIC deputy president S.K. Devamany said the confusion arose when Punjabis tried to register for the shares, as the PNB system only allowed “Indians” and not other sub-ethnic groups.

“The system shows that they are not ‘Indian’ if they register as ‘Punjabi’. The system automatically rejects (Punjabi),” he told The Malaysian Insight today. 

He also wrote to PNB group chairman Abdul Wahid Omar, informing the latter that those with “Punjabi, Sikh and Kaur” on their identity cards and birth certificates were not allowed to register for the AS1M shares because the system did not recognise them as Indians.

Devamany, who is also deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, urged AS1M fund manager PNB and the National Registration Department (NRD) to rectify the matter since the shares are limited.

“I wrote to PNB and asked them to reconsider this. We plead that they will make an exception this time around for those who are Indians but are not registered as Indians.”

Registration processes for various transactions in Malaysia commonly require the applicant to state their ethnicity and the selection is often limited to Malay, Chinese, Indian and others.

The Malaysian Insight tried to contact Wahid for a comment on this issue but has not received a response.

The PNB communications department said registration for shares was based on information contained in identity documents issued by NRD, meaning all Malaysians identified as “Indians” in the documents were eligible.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the opening of AS1M shares to Indian Malaysians after 1.5 billion units were added.  It is expected to benefit nearly 50,000 Indians, according to MIC president Dr S. Subramaniam.

The move was first unveiled when Najib tabled the national Budget 2018 last October. The distribution of AS1M by Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad is open until the shares are sold out. – January 30, 2018.  

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Comments

  • Malaysian Punjabis need to make up their mind as to whether they consider themselves as Indians or not. I've heard many times during my interactions with Punjabi Sikhs & Christians in the past where they consider themselves to be different from other Indians.

    Not only that, a lot of them especially the elders show a strong repulsive behavior towards Indians. I can remember countless times where I'll be sitting in a certain bus seat or restaurant table and the elders will make a conscious decision to keep the women and children at a safe distance away. I can only imagine their reaction if there is a situation where one of their family members is dating an Indian, especially a lower caste, dark-skinned one.

    If you have that level of discomfort around Indians, then why include yourself in a scheme that is supposed to be directed to poor B40 Indians, basically those poor and marginalized Indians that you despise? You can't have your cake and eat it. Either you're one of us or you're not.

    Posted 6 years ago by KL Bikey · Reply