Getting Indians to join armed forces

PUTRAJAYA: A specific programme will be launched next month to encourage the Indian community to join the armed forces.

MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the programme would fall under the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community (SEDIC) initiative.

He said only 1.6 per cent of the Indian community were serving in the armed forces.

Dr Subramaniam said this was in line with the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) laid out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the 2018 Budget.

One of the aims under MIB was to increase the Indian community’s involvement in civil service to seven per cent, he said.

“In our efforts to increase job opportunities for the Indian community, SEDIC has already had talks with several government agencies, and these agencies have been encouraging. This includes the armed forces, which is all too willing to take in members of the community.”

Dr Subramaniam said this after chairing the executive committee of the Cabinet Committee on the Indian Community.

On another matter, he said 317 million of the 1.5 billion additional units of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia for the Indian community had been snapped up by 41,000 people since being made available on Jan 29.

“We will continue to promote such opportunities for the Indian community and stress that it is important for them to invest and fully utilise such opportunities. We hope that all 1.5 billion units will be taken up within six months.”

Dr Subramaniam said the meeting yesterday had also decided that a special committee be formed to look into housing issues specifically for members of the community which were in the bottom 40 per cent (B40) category.

“This committee will focus on house ownership and how to help the Indian community in the B40 group own low-cost housing.”