It's empty talk, Putrajaya has no money to help Indians, says Dr Mahathir

Muzliza Mustafa Muzliza Mustafa Updated 8 years ago · Published on 14 Jul 2017 5:26PM · 1 Comments

Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Putrajaya High Court today where he took the stand as a witness in his son Mukhriz's defamation trial against Najib Razak’s press secretary Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Kamal Ariffin, July 14, 2017.

DR Mahathir Mohamad today said Putrajaya only talks about helping the Indian community but actually has contributed nothing as it has no funds.

“He said only… but did not do it. There’s no money,” Dr Mahathir said in referring to Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Pakatan Harapan chairman was at the Jalan Duta High Court today taking the stand as a witness in his son Mukhriz’s defamation trial against Najib’s press secretary Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad.

A few days ago, Najib took a swipe at Dr Mahathir while talking about his efforts in helping the Indian community.

Although Najib did not mention Dr Mahathir by name, his remarks made reference to the latter’s lineage that includes ancestors from Kerala, India on the paternal side.

“As Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam mentioned, in the period I have been PM, almost RM900 million has been allocated for Tamil schools,” Najib said, referring to the MIC president and health minister.

“And he (Subramaniam) also stated that I have done more for Indians than previous PMs including one who is of Indian descent,” he said during his speech at the celebration of Tamil education in the country on July 11.

The Pekan MP said Putrajaya’s Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) launched this year would help unify the community and further include it in the country’s progress. – July 14, 2017.

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Comments

  • By custom and tradition, indians follow their kings. Other people follow laws or prophets or precedence, but the indian way has always been to follow their kings. In the old days , to follow the king and to follow god meant the same thing. Present time Indians do not equate their leaders with god anymore, but the prestige that the position of leader has gained by being closely associated with that of divinity over the centuries and millenia makes the position of a leader still a very powerful position in the indian mind.

    For example, when i was in school, the textbooks said that islam spread in the thalassocratic states of south east asia because Islam was simpler and easier to understand religion than the pre-existing hindu-buddhist religions, but this view is one without insight. The fact is, the people of Malacca, converted en masse to islam simply because their King converted to islam, and in the indian way which the people of south east asia at that time followed, you change your religion only and if your king changes his religion. In the indian way of thinking, what the king does is right, and if you don't follow the king, you are wrong.

    In modern malaysia, believe it or not, its the Prime Minister that malaysian indians take as their paramount leader, although no prime minister of malaysia has been indian. Even the last significant malaysian indian representative of, Dato Seri Sa. Samy Velu, was not considered to be the top leader of the malaysian indians, even though Samy Velu was the most prominent indian politician who helmed the most prominent ( at that time) indian party in the nation.

    There are two types of indians in malaysia: one is english speaking and the other is tamil speaking.
    The english speaking indians no longer follows the indian way, but the tamil speaking indians still follow the indian way, and to the tamil speaking malaysian indian, the Prime Minister is accorded with the powers of affecting the mind of tamil speaking malaysian indian.

    A mere gesture from Najib, that he has the interest and future of indians in his attention, even if his gesture is not backed by anything of substance, can translate into votes.

    And lets not forget that the indians are probably one of the most sentimental race alive, and for sentimental people, gestures are more important than substance.

    Posted 8 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply