The government is responsible for the birth of the Mat Rempit culture and gangsterism among Indian youths, said opposition parliamentarian Dr M Jeyakumar.

According to the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leader, the government had brought about these social ills by giving priority to foreign direct investment and encouraging foreign labour into the country.

Therefore, the Sungai Siput MP said it was wrong to just blame parents for the problem.

"Why blame the poor parents who have to hold two or three jobs in order to maintain a family on the current high cost of living," he told a forum in Ipoh yesterday.

Capitalist attitude

He stressed that the problem lies in the capitalist attitude of the federal government to attract foreign investors by preventing the formation of unions and not setting a minimum wage structure for workers in the country.

psm declare asset 120309 jeyakumar"Furthermore, the youths have to compete with the influx of foreign workers who are ready to work for a low salary.

"All this high pressure at the work place and working for peanuts is putting a damper on the spirits of the youths who then turn to other activities to let out their steam and frustrations," he said.

"Such actions by the government have created the mat rempit culture among the Malay youths and alleged gangsterism among the Indian youths," he claimed.

Jeyakumar explained that Malay youths have to compete very hard with the influx of foreign workers to retain their low wages which, in turn, causes frustration and anger amongst them.

"They then turn to mat rempit activities to ease the tension faced at their workplace," he added.

As for Indian youths' involvement in gangsterism, Jeyakumar said they were not gangsters as labelled by society but youths who want to make a better living out of their low education qualifications.

"Most Indian youths drop out of school either at the primary level or secondary level mainly due to family financial constraints and not being able to get financial aid to further their studies.

"So they drop off and engage in manual jobs that do not measure up to their financial expectations," he said.

"When they are offered lucrative jobs as runners or debt collectors for loan sharks such as banks and finance companies, they jump at the offer without minding the social stigma attached to such jobs.

"So who is to be blamed for these state of affairs?" asked the medical doctor turned politician.

Address the issues

In view of this, Jeyakumar called on the government to take responsibility for such pathetic social conditions and address them.

His vision of addressing and balancing the economic status of the Malaysian youths are:

1) Allow unions to flourish in the country to protect the interests of workers

2) Set a minimum wage structure that reflects the present cost of living

3) Stop the influx of foreign workers into the country which in turn is causing social problems in the country and robbing jobs that should legally go to Malaysians.

The PSM leader said the government should give top priority to uplifting the social and financial status of Malaysians instead of bowing down to economic pressures of foreign investors.

"By giving a reasonable minimum wage to Malaysians, it can generate local buying power, which in turn will boost the growth of the local economy. We do not have to depend on foreign investors to boost the local market,”

"At the end of the day, there is an outflow of our Ringgit as foreign investors plough their profits back to their countries,” he added.

When pointed out that the high wages may turn foreign investors off, he reasoned that "Malaysia is the only country in the region to have political stability whereas other countries are dogged by political problems."

"This plus point will bring in the investors despite the high wages," he concluded.