PUTRAJAYA: The claim that 300,000 members of the Indian community in the country are without identity cards or have not become Malaysian nationals is politically motivated to instil hatred against the Barisan Nasional government, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein.
He said the action by a handful of opposition leaders who were attempting to hold a demonstration in front of the National Registration Department, Putrajaya on Dec 12 was purely to create racial conflicts in the run up to the 13th general election.
“Why is the matter being raised now, why is the figure being expanded to 300,000, the figure is totally unfounded.
“This is tied to the allegation that a certain ethnic group (Indians) had not been given citizenship. The figure is illogical.
“We have not heard of such allegations previously. It is being raised just as the general election is approaching.
“So the public can evaluate for themselves the objective of this group,” he said at a media conference after attending the closing of a gathering between the minister and ministry staff, here yesterday.
Hishamuddin said that through the MyDaftar campaign launched to resolve the problems of the identity document for the Indian community, 9,525 people had received the application forms while 7,061 had submitted the forms which had been filled up. — Bernama