Another 10 SITF service centres to resolve Indian community issues

BENTONG: The government is setting up another 10 more Special Implementation Taskforce on Indian Community (SITF) service centres nationwide this year to settle issues relating to the Indian community more swiftly and effectively.
MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said since taking over the administration of the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had carried out several efforts to resolve the issues faced by the Indian community including the establishment of SITF.
Among the problems which had been solved including the issue of citizenship which saw 7,000 applications successfully settled while another 4,000 cases were still in the process.
"The government created these service centres as a link between government agencies and the people at the grassroots level so that we could assist them solved the problems they are facing.
"Looking at the experience throughout the country, many cases referred to SITF were those in need of assistance in education, welfare, medical aid and citizenship," he said after officiating the SITF service centre in Taman Sentosa here today.
The ceremony was also attended by Pahang MIC chairman Datuk R Goonasakaren and State Health, Human Resources and Special Duties Committee chairman Datuk Seri Norol Azali Sulaiman.
The service centre launched today is the first in Pahang and 11th in the country set up by the government under the Cabinet Committee on the Indian Community under the Prime Minister's Department.
According to Subramaniam, 10 new SITF service centres will be opened in areas with high concentration of the Indian community.
"Apart from assisting the people, SITF also has the role of raising the knowledge of the Indian community on their responsibilities as citizens as we found many problems in the community were due to their lack knowledge on their responsibilities.
"For example, the issue of the birth certificate was due to parents who did not register the birth of their children and when the issue of schooling arose, we found in some cases the couples did not register their marriage.
"In this regard, we would like to educate and provide information on the matter so that there would be no problems in future.
Meanwhile, a resident, K. Panneer Chelvum said the move to increase the number of service centres would facilitate efforts to settle problems faced by the Indian community.
"For example, the problem of my own mother, V Govindamal, 61, who was born in Malaysia and could only obtain permanent resident status as she did not have any birth certificate and despite numerous applications to the National Registration Department, they were unsuccessful in changing the status of her citizenship.
"With SITF, it would facilitate and expedite further applications to change the status of citizenship and I understand my mother's application is now in progress," he said. — Bernama