Malaysian PM hopes for improvement in Malay- Indians' status over next five years

Kuala Lumpur, Apr 26(ANI): Malaysian Prime Minister Seri Najib Tun Razak has said he hoped to see a vast improvement in the status and welfare of the Indian community in the country over the next five years.

He added that he wished to see the Indian community fully integrated in the mainstream of national economic development.

"I hope that within (the next) five years, we will see the improvement of the Indian community. As you know, our target is to double our income level by 2020, basically to about US$15,000 per capita. We target better and better, and we will deliver what we promise," The Star quoted Razak, as saying.

He said the Malaysian government has taken significant steps for the welfare of the Indian community over the past two years and added there was greater recognition and awareness of problems faced by them.

He said new approaches were taken in recognising and tackling these problems, even from the time when he was the deputy prime minister and chaired the Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs.

"Some of the things done include the allocation for Tamil schools, where it is the largest ever in our history. The latest decision, for example, is (providing) 1,000 additional places in our matriculation colleges, starting from this year. Previously, it was just 500," he added. (ANI)