FORMER deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching previously said that MIC president Tan Sri WA Vigneswaran might not be telling the truth when talking about the intake of Indian students in the matriculation programme.
In an interview with a Tamil news portal recently, Vigneswaran accused the Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan) government of taking away seats allocated to Indian students to give to the Chinese students
He claimed that under the Pakatan government, only 1,200 Indian students got into the matriculation programme for the 2019/2020 intake.
The actual truth, however, was that 1,991 Indian students had gained entry into the matriculation programme and not 1,200 as Vigneswaran had claimed.
This begs the question: why had Vigneswaran failed to reveal the actual truth?
It was in the 2020/2021 intake when the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government came into power with MIC as the representative of Indians that the matriculation intake of Indians was around 1,100.
Why was this so?
Maybe Vigneswaran should also reveal the intake of Indian students in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.
I think Vigneswaran would not dare to answer this question because MIC had not lifted a finger to increase the Indian intake into the matriculation programme.
In fact, there was no reason why MIC could not have pressured the government in increasing the intake of qualified Indian students in the matriculation programme.
Vigneswaran used the metaphor how the MIC accumulated benefits for Indians in the matriculation programme like the way the birds accumulate food and materials for their nests.
Vigneswaran thinks that he can fool the Indian community by coming out with lies and half-truths.
Maybe he should be asked how much funds the present government had allocated to Tamil schools.
I understand the picture is dismal or pathetic.
Facts and figures are sufficient to demolish the lies that are constantly perpetrated.
The Pakatan government might have allocated RM100 mil to Tamil schools and this was a paltry sum that I am not proud of.
The question here is what was the allocation under the PN government with MIC as the representative of Indians?
I gather in the 2021/2022 budget allocation, Tamil schools received about RM64 mil – a reduction of RM36 mil.
Is this reduction consonant with Vigneswaran’s boast that MIC had gradually accumulated benefits for the Indian community over the years?
A massive reduction of RM36 mil – which is equivalent to the building of six new Tamil schools – was slashed under the so-called watchful eyes of MIC and its ever-vigilant president Vigneswaran.
Will Vigneswaran come out with another preposterous lie that the PN government had transferred the slashed funds to Chinese schools next?
I admit, the Pakatan government could have increased the intake of Indian students but for Vigneswaran to say that the places reserved for Indian students were given to Chinese students is really regressive racial politics of the worst kind.
This is something that was not expected from an MIC leader and if I remember correctly, no other Indian leaders have said such a nonsensical thing before.
Former MIC president Tun S. Samy Vellu for all his aggressiveness was a straight shooter who did not engage in such gutter politics.
Of course, Vigneswaran can criticise the Pakatan government for not doing enough for the Indians in the educational arena.
The best form of criticism is by proving beyond reasonable doubt that MIC has done a lot more for Indians in the last 27 months or so.
Data can be furnished to show what MIC or the PN government had helped achieve for the Indians.
However, if the MIC is nowhere to the relative achievements of the former 22-month short-lived Pakatan government then it serves no purpose to blow the trumpet.
Vigneswaran should be ashamed of himself for telling lies and hiding the obvious.
Vigneswaran’s remarks about the lack of Indian intake in the matriculation programme under the Pakatan government shows that he has not kept abreast of developments in the educational arena.
Lack of ideas or facts meant among other things that he was easily tempted to invoke the racial argument about the mythical transfer of places allocated for the Indian students to the Chinese.
We should count our lucky stars he did not say that DAP was the source of the perennial problem in the country as a result of his close association with the racist party UMNO. – Aug 16, 2022
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
