Hindraf Makkal Sakthi Chairman P Waythamoorthy said it would not be the first time that Najib would have made promises that were eventually not kept.

“Najib betrayed his own ‘nambikei’ (trust) pledge to Malaysians of Indian origin, which was made just before the last general election in May 2013, on the eve of a RM4.5 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and Barisan Nasional (BN).

“After all these years of reneging on his promises under the MoU and the Hindraf Blueprint, the prime minister has the audacity to now make another promise to the Indian community,” Waytha said.

Waytha admitted that Najib had told him that he kept pushing for programmes but there was always “push back”.

“Before this, he had complained that there were hitches in implementation. He said his decisions were not executed down the line, there were setbacks.”

“But now, he has promised to implement the blueprint. He’s not speaking the truth, as there are hitches at the implementation level,” the former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said.

The prime minister does not intend to keep his promises to the Indian community, Waytha lamented and “that is the truth”.

In responding to Najib’s new pledge, Waytha said that he tried his best as well when he was in the Senate and the Cabinet.

“I raised the MoU with Najib but he told me to hold on,” he said, adding: “In fact, Najib made a public apology to the Indian community for the 40 years of neglect by Umno and BN.”

Waytha also expressed disappointment that Najib failed to address several salient issues, including the plight of 300,000 stateless people in Malaysia of Indian origin, socio-economic plans for 800,000 displaced estate workers (DEW), more Indian intakes at public universities, increased job opportunities in the civil service, and skills training courses.

Najib had also promised programmes to counter the growing involvement of Indian youth in the underworld and organised crime, recalled Waytha.