After nearly a quarter of a century as the topmost Indian leader in this country, an opposition politician has asked what MIC president S Samy Vellu achieved for the community.

Samy Vellu - who is also works minister - will be celebrating his 24th anniversary as a cabinet minister tomorrow.

Following Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's retirement on Oct 31, he will be the most senior cabinet minister in the country.

However, DAP chief Lim Kit Siang said there were two developments in the Indian community over the past two decades, which Samy Vellu cannot shirk or disclaim responsibility for.

"One was captured by the title of the Star TV Focus Asia current affairs programme - The Indian Underclass - which the satellite television station Astro censored .

"The second was the emergence of Indians in Malaysia as the new criminal class," the opposition leader told a forum in Ipoh, Perak yesterday.

He said when Samy Vellu became MIC president and cabinet minister in 1979, the Indians were not an 'underclass' to the extent that a news programme under that title was considered sensitive.

He added that the news report was canned not "because it was untrue, but because it was too true."

"If the Star TV programme was untrue, it could be criticised and be put right by countering it and portraying the true picture.

"The problem arises when it reflects the true situation of Indians 24 years after the political supremacy of Samy Vellu," he stressed in his speech, a copy of which was faxed to malaysiakini .

'Sad phenomenon'

Lim said the 'sad phenomenon' of Indians becoming a criminal class in Malaysia occurred over the past decade and the MIC president cannot escape responsibility or liability for this as well.

He added that this situation reflected the socio-economic abyss which has become the trap for many Indians.

The DAP chief also recalled a conference last year entitled ' The Malaysian Indian in the New Millennium - Rebuilding Community' which was touted as the conference to end all empty-talk conferences over the past four decades.

The conference, Lim said, aimed "to liberate the Indian community from its litany of growing despair - Indians have the lowest life expectancy at 67.3 years, the highest dropout rate, the highest incidence of alcoholism and dadah addiction, the largest number of gangs is made up of Indians, with 60 percent of serious crime committed by them".

However, he said the conference which was supposed to jolt the Indian middle-class to 'emerge out of its cocoon and face reality' proved to be another major flop.

The veteran opposition leader noted that academic Professor P Ramasamy had correctly diagnosed the root cause of the problem afflicting the Indian community - 'the lack of full citizenship rights and participation in the nation building process'.

"The twin problem of the Indian underclass and new criminal class face two hurdles - the double denial by middle class Indians that it is a problem and by the government and society that it is a Malaysian problem."

Police shootings

When declaring the forum open earlier, DAP deputy secretary-general M Kula Segaran called for an independent public inquiry into police shootings, of which the majority of suspected criminals being gunned down were Indians.

He also cited the latest case involving three men who were killed in a shootout in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan after they allegedly refused to surrender and opened fire at police personnel.

Police claimed that the trio were responsible for numerous armed robberies. Among those killed, was 19-year-old student V Vikines.

His parents claimed that the deceased was nothing more than an innocent schoolboy and have accused the police of foul play.

Commenting on this, Lim said: "In a true democracy where the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance are given priority, there would be no dispute as to the need for an institution like the Police Ombudsman to probe the matter, but this is note the case in Malaysia."

In view of all these, the DAP leader called upon the Indian community to make its voice heard and legitimate demands felt during the months leading up to the general election.

"If they cannot get their voices heard in these few important months, then they are unlikely to be heard after the general election - with or without Samy Vellu," he said.