Little India, Indian PM’s visit not vote bait, says Saravanan

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Datuk M. Saravanan has denied that the Little India project in the city’s Brickfields district was a strategy to gain Indian support, despite the rush to complete it to greet Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s arrival next Tuesday.
With the majority of urban Chinese voters seen to be implacably set against the Barisan Nasional (BN), the transformation of Brickfields was among Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s several feel good measures to court the Indian electorate.
“This (Little India) is not to get support for BN,” Saravanan told The Malaysian Insider.
“It is the businessmen who wanted it converted to Little India. People make the request and the prime minister has delivered,” the Federal Territories deputy minister added.
He also stressed that Manmohan’s planned launch of Little India on October 27 was not devised to please Indian voters.
“This is not a plan to get votes. This is just a mark of respect that the government has invited him (Manmohan) to officiate Little India,” he said.

Work on Little India was being rushed to be ready for the Indian PM’s visit.

Two months ago, however, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin promised to ease the clampdown on illegal parking in Brickfields in a bid to appease angry businessmen suffering a drastic drop in business in the suburb. Many Brickfields traders — most of them Indians — had then threatened to withdraw their traditional support for the ruling coalition amid a business decline of up to 80 per cent caused by the new one-way traffic system in the area
Today, Saravanan pointed out that the RM35 million Little India project — which is set to transform Brickfields into the country’s Indian cultural enclave — was not aimed at aiding the Indian community, and said that the government had more specific activities to woo the community’s voters.
“This has nothing to do with helping Indians. To help Indians, the prime minister has other programmes,” he said.
He highlighted several government initiatives, such as the Tekun Nasional fund to help Indian youths obtain micro business loans, training programmes run by the human resources ministry, as well as the building of Tamil schools.
“We want job opportunities. We want our Indian youths to get into training programmes, and we want the Indian temples to be allocated permanent land,” said Saravanan when asked to describe the main issues faced by the Indian community.
The deputy minister also claimed that the daily traffic snarls in Brickfields were caused by illegal parking and not because of the new one-way traffic system.
“Once we overcome illegal parking, I don’t think there will be traffic jams,” said Saravanan, adding that traffic congestion would likely be resolved after a new parking lot was built.

The one-way system and haphazard parking had irked local traders.

A parking lot with two underground storeys — which can accommodate 186 cars — was planned for construction at the Pines condominium and was expected to complete in the next two to three months, while another 1,400-bay parking lot that will be located at the government quarters is targeted to be finished in about two years. Saravanan also took pains to stress that the traffic dispersal system in Brickfields — which is causing daily traffic snarls — was conceptualised separately from the Little India project.
“People fail to understand that Little India has got nothing to do with the reconstruction of the roads. It was a totally different package that was planned years ago,” he said.
Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and parts of Jalan Tun Sambanthan as well as Jalan Thambipillay have been converted to one-way streets. Another road, Jalan Rozario, has had its road direction reversed but retains two-way flow.
The temporary one-way traffic system will be in place until October 29 to facilitate work on the RM110 million Package 3 of the traffic upgrading system for Brickfields, Bangsar and Kuala Lumpur.
The Little India project includes fruit and information kiosks at Jalan Thamby Abdullah, a three-storey Indian bazaar at the end of Jalan Tun Sambanthan, a multi-storey car park near the Kuala Lumpur City Hall sports complex, a 35-foot fountain at the junction of Jalan Travers and Jalan Tun Sambanthan, and a brick-paved Jalan Tun Sambanthan lined with white street lamps and pale yellow arches with purple patterns that match the newly painted purple buildings along the street.

Manmohan will officiate the launch of Little India during his visit to Malaysia. — Reuters pic