Hindraf to unveil Indian poor five-year blueprint

Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy today announced that the movement will unveil a five-year blueprint to address the plight of the Indian poor.

"On Nov 25 at our fifth anniversary of the grand Hindraf rally of November 2007, we will be revealing our five-year blueprint to bring the Indian poor into the mainstream of national development," he told journalist at a press conference in Brickfields this morning.

The blueprint will outline the movement's short-term plan, which is derived from the 18-point demand to the government in 2007.

Waythamoorthy declined to disclose the plan, but said one of the solutions it proposed in the blueprint concerns the estimated 350,000 stateless Indians in the country.

On this, it will call for the government to accept statutory declarations on family background as being sufficient to issue stateless Indians in the country with a blue identity card.

Adding on, Hindraf national advisor N Ganesan said the the blueprint will seek practical solutions.

"We believe the issue of statelessness is not a technical problem but a political problem. If there is political will, then we will have a permanent and comprehensive solution," he said.

Cautious backing for Najib meet

The announcement today came immediately after a meeting of Hindraf leaders from eight states who endorsed Waythamoorthy's stance to accept Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's invitation for a meeting on condition that the 2007 ban on the organisation be lifted.
"Hindraf leaders from all eight states had their respective meetings with their state coordinators to gather feedback in respond to the call.

"In today's meeting, concerns were raised about the sincerity of the invitation and we are concerned that this is only tied to the looming general election.

"We are not exactly enthusiastic about the invitation. However, we have decided to give him (Najib) the benefit of the doubt," said Waythamoorthy.

He added that there was no deadline set for the government but he hoped the authorities will lift the ban on Hindraf "as soon as possible" so talks can commence.
"It does not make sense for the prime minister to be meeting the leaders of a ban organisation.

"So long as the ban is in place, we do not think the conditions are right for Hindraf to make the next move," he said.

Waythamoorthy noted that Hindraf had conducted 47 roadshows since August and had met over 60,000 Indians who gave the mandate for the movement to meet all parties in resolving the problems of the Indian poor.

'A force to reckon with'
Asked about the premier's sudden move to offer an olive branch, he replied: "The support for Hindraf is growing by the day and it is an indisputable fact that Hindraf is a force that represents marginalised and poor Indians."

"The government, though has been living in denial, I think they now realise Hindraf is truly the voice of the people," he said.

Asked how would MIC which represents the Indian community in the ruling coalition will react, Waythamoorthy said: "We are not concerned how they stand or what they think, we have nothing to do with them, we are here to find solutions."

Hindraf had on Aug 29, 2012 made an open request to both Najib and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for discussion to address the problems of the Indian poor.

The movement had since met the opposition twice and on Wednesday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said the government too wanted to engage Hindraf.

Asked if Hindraf's support for either side would be contingent upon their endorsement of Hindraf's five-year blueprint, Waythamoorthy said the movement discussed it with Pakatan leader Anwar and will "take it from there" in subsequent meetings.