Indian community leaders cannot even begin to address such 'macro' issues as the community's share of corporate equity in the country until the more urgent, and rudimentary problem faced by thousands of poor Indians who are without documentary identification is resolved.

According to T Indrani, secretary-general of Education and Research Association of Consumers, Malaysia (Era Consumer Malaysia), the incidence of Indian Malaysian citizens being without birth, identification or marriage certification has led to untold hardship and their marginalisation.

"Every month, each of our 10 community centers located in just four states receive at least 10 cases every month of Indians without birth certificates, identity cards (IC) or marriage certificates," she said when met yesterday.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg because our centers are only in four states, but it leads to bigger problems because children cannot go to school to get an education and adults cannot register their business or seek gainful employment," she explained.

"From all our centers, we easily get 100 cases every month from the Indian community who are really a forgotten people. They're stateless because they're not even recognised as citizens of this country although as plantation workers and rubber tappers, they had also contributed to the economy."

She said this when met after a forum where recommendations for the Ninth Malaysia Plan were presented in a report to various representatives and activists of Indian-based non-governmental organisations (NGO).

The forum was jointly organised by Era Consumer and the Malaysian Indian Educational Development Association (Mind).

Indrani said larger 'macro' issues such as the share of equity enjoyed by the Indian community seem distant in view of the glaring and more urgent problem of Indians without documentation.

"Right now, our share of corporate equity is 1.5%, and a target of 3% has been set for the year 2010. But for us, that issue is for the politicians to deal with as part of the larger picture," she said.

"We can't even begin to deal with it because we've found that it's difficult to deal with statistics when there are so many Indians out there who are not even documented.

"Instead of looking at the equity issue, we've found that we have to take many steps backwards and deal with this primary issue of Indian Malaysians without even ICs or birth certificates," Indrani added.

"Who knows how many Indians are out there without certificates. We only know of 100 every month in four states. What about the other ten states?" she asked.

Forced to migrate

Indrani explained that whereas most plantation and estate communities have schools for children and adults can work to supplement their earnings as workers, these were in an informal context where birth certificates and ICs, among other documentation, were not emphasised.

"But because of the forces of globalisation where many plantations have been sold to other companies or converted for other land use or development projects, many are forced to migrate to urban and suburban areas," said Indrani.

"This contributes somewhat to social ills, among other things, because in such places, you cannot go to school if you don't have a birth certificate or IC. Without an IC, you cannot get a job or start your own business or obtain a license."

Reflecting the phenomenon, says Indrani, is the 65% failure rate of Indian children at the primary (UPSR) level examinations. At the secondary level, 27% of Indian students reportedly do not complete their secondary (SPM) education.

Among the recommendations, therefore, is for the government to embark on a nationwide exercise to register people without birth certificates, marriage certificates and ICs.

The relevant ministries were also urged to relax regulations and procedures dealing with documentation. Others were urged to take steps in spreading awareness of the importance of obtaining the proper certificates and documents.

Indrani also said the issue was an illustration of how many of the problems facing the Indian community derived from the need to formulate, change, relax, or just better implement and enforce government policies and regulations.

She added that poor enforcement of existing laws is illustrated by the tendency of police officers to dismiss women who come to report on domestic violence. Though there is an existing Act proscribing against domestic violence, it seemed of little use if there was no enforcement.

Myth shattered

In his presentation of the findings, Mind pro-tem president Saravanan Kandasamy pointed out that only 17% of the 104 recommendations for the Ninth Malaysia Plan pertain directly to funding, financial incentives and subsidies.

The bulk, more than a third, of the recommendations dealt with policy implementation and enforcement while the others call for the operationalisation of such plans as skills training programs and more facilities.

This, said Saravanan, shatters the common myth that the Indian poor only seek mere 'handouts' from the authorities.

"It just goes to show that the Indian poor are neither lazy nor looking merely for more money. They suffer from a basic lack of opportunities to advance themselves either in business or education," he said when contacted.