TEMERLOH: MIC Central Working Committee member Datuk T. Murugiah tonight challenged the Opposition to establish a blueprint in Opposition-led states to help the Indian community.
He said since the Opposition has been claiming that they have been genuinely championing for the people from all races, then they should come up with a detailed policy through the blueprint to assist the Indians.
Murugiah said there were no government like Barisan Nasional which cared about the community, and described the Malaysian Indian Blueprint, launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last week, as a game-changer for the Indian community.
“The Opposition has not only gone around spreading lies but has done little to help uplift the Indian community. This is why I’m challenging them to introduce a similar blueprint in Selangor and Penang to help the Indian community.
“We are lucky to have a Prime Minister who is concerned about the (welfare of) all races. Even when our Prime Minister introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Opposition criticised the move but last week they have decided to maintain the GST if they come into power,” he said when speaking at the Ceramah Rakyat: Negaraku Generasiku at Mentakab here tonight.
Murugiah said the Prime Minister was far-sighted as the GST collection has managed to cushion the continuous drop in global crude oil prices.
“The Prime Minister has managed the country well and the RM45 billion collected through GST has helped the country sustained itself.
“The Opposition, who once wanted to abolish GST, has now agreed to also maintain the GST as they realise its importance,” he said.
He criticised the Opposition for using their ceramahs to sway voters by spreading false news.
“At the Opposition’s ceramah sessions, they will utter various ‘facts’ to confuse listeners and people should not be easily carried away with whatever they speak.
“During the last general election, they claimed 40,000 Bangladesh nationals were in Malaysia to cast their votes but all these claims did not make sense.
“Now they are claiming that the government is prepared to bring in 700,000 China nationals for the 14th general election. This is them, spreading fake news without any proof,” he said.
Also present at the session was MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Umno information chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa.