I welcome the efforts on the part of the federal government in establishing 10 new Chinese primary schools and relocating six primary schools to different places.
This clearly shows that Barisan Nasional (BN) is keen on winning over the support of the Chinese community in the coming general election.
It would not take knowledge of rocket science to determine why the BN government has taken a sudden interest in the Chinese community.
This is the first time in the history of the country that such a dramatic and bold announcement has been made.
I am sure that MCA will come out of its “political wilderness” to take advantage of this announcement.
The relocation exercise is intended to address the lack of student enrolment in six Chinese primary schools, in hopes that if they are relocated to areas with sizeable Chinese populations, enrolment problems might cease.
What about Tamil schools?
The situation of Tamil primary schools is different.
While financial allocations have been announced from time to time, nothing substantial has been done to address the lack of Tamil schools in areas with heavy Indian concentrations in the country.
In the last few years, I think if I am not mistaken, three additional Tamil primary schools were established in areas with a sizeable Tamil presence.
These schools are not sufficient to address the demands of Indians in new areas with large Indian communities.
It must be understood that the Indian presence in rural areas, particularly plantations, has declined considerably over the years.
Indians have moved to urban areas and, as such, there is a need for new Tamil schools in these areas.
But Tamil primary schools are not the only thing the Indian community needs. Some schools with low and falling enrolment need to be relocated.
We don’t want a situation where schools with low enrolment are closed down, something that happened more than 20 years ago.
Slavish parties
The former president of MIC, S Samy Vellu, not only failed to prevent some Tamil primary schools from being closed down, but encouraged the grouping of schools leading to the closure of a number of Tamil schools.
Paradoxically, MIC, which is supposed to protect the Tamil schools, accelerated the closure of a number of these schools in the country.
A few decades ago, there were more than 1,000 Tamil schools in the country, but today, with the addition of three schools, there are only about 526.
If BN is concerned about the votes of the Chinese community, it should also be concerned about the votes of Indians who might make a difference in about 60 electoral constituencies.
If there is a close contest in the coming election between the opposition and BN, chances are that Indian votes might make the difference in terms of winning.
However, sadly, the Indian political parties have never pressed BN on this matter.
The problem is that unlike the vibrant Chinese community, the Indians are easily hoodwinked by the BN government through slavish political parties such as MIC, MyPPP, IPF and others.
The self-seeking leaders of these parties do not have the interests of the community at heart. Their political survival has assumed more importance than the survival or the well-being of the Indian community.
The contest for the parliamentary seat of Cameron Highlands seems more important to MIC and MyPPP than the future of the Indian community in the country.
The Indian community does not need enemies in Umno or BN. They have theirs in MIC, MyPPP, IPF, Makkal Sakthi and other “malarial or dengue-infested” parties.
Well, if these political parties are the “saviours” of the Indians, then they don’t need new enemies.
P Ramasamy is the Penang deputy chief minister and DAP deputy secretary-general.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.