Ipoh Barat MP M Kula Segaran today urged Putrajaya to seriously consider such a programme out of empathy for such people who had already been in the peninsula before the country gained its independence, thus making them at least 60 years old this year.

Referring to comments by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last week on the unwillingness of the government to be flexible in resolving the issue of stateless Indians, Kula said it contradicted the promise made by Prime Minister Najib Razak last year.

“On Aug 7 last year, during the launch of MIC’s 70th anniversary celebrations, Najib gave his assurance that he would work towards resolving the issue of citizenship faced by stateless Indians who were born here before Merdeka.

“However, now Zahid’s remarks are most disappointing and demoralising for those who have been waiting to become citizens,” Kula said in a statement, adding that he had subsequently made an appeal to Zahid that the government treat the applications on a case-to-case basis.

“This is because there are cases where only a technical issue is hampering the approval for citizenship, and in such cases, there certainly needs to be some flexibility.”

Kula, who is DAP national vice-chairman, also responded to accusations by Pusat Aduan Rakyat Malaysia (PAR) president A Chandrakumanan that he had taken Zahid’s speech out of context to provoke and instigate the Indians against the government.

“Could he explain firstly, how I had taken Zahid’s remarks out of context and secondly, since when did he become the spokesman for the deputy prime minister?

“As a member of Parliament, I have been bringing up this issue inside and outside the Dewan Rakyat.

“So, I must speak up when Zahid has taken an approach that will not be able to effectively, massively and quickly resolve this long-standing issue,” Kula said, adding that he strongly condemned PPP information chief Chandrakumanan’s baseless accusations that he was trying to provoke the Indian community.