KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Pakatan Haparan lawmakers today derided Putrajaya’s blueprint for the development of the Indian community as little more than a compilation of the group’s problems.

They also alleged that the Malaysian Action Plan for the Indian Community (MIB) was an election gimmick, and cast doubts on the promises contained.

“The reality, as pointed out in the blueprint, is that only 3 per cent of Indians have houses,” Klang MP Charles Santiago said in a press conference.

“Eighty-one per cent of Indian households only have three months’ savings, and are the most vulnerable to be put out on the streets, as they are at risk of losing their homes,” he added.

Seri Andalas state assemblyman Dr Xavier Jayakumar claimed the MIB failed to address the root cause of income inequality, as it ignored macroeconomic policies that caused hardship for all those in the lowest 40 per cent (B40) of the wage earners, and not just Indians.

“To overcome income inequality, Pakatan Harapan calls for an increase in real wages for the B40 group across all races,” Xavier said, reading a joint statement undersigned by him, Charles and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) secretary-general Mohd Anwar Tahir.

They also noted that Indians made up only 4 per cent of public university entries between 2014 and 2015, and claimed there were policies that could halve the government’s target of raising this to 7 per cent in 10 years.

Indian entrepreneurs in the top 20 and middle 40 income groups were also struggling to gain funding from the  Special Secretariat to Empower Indian Entrepreneurs (SEED), they said.

Other criticisms include the lack of computer labs at Tamil vernacular schools despite RM800 million in federal funds.

In April, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the MIB, and said it was a commitment and determination of the BN government to continue to develop the living standard of the Indian community.

National news agency Bernama reported the prime minister as saying that the action plan was aimed especially at the B40 group and was carefully prepared using the “bottom-up” and inclusive approach.

Najib said the progress of the initiative outlined in the document would be monitored by the Cabinet Committee for the Indian Community (CCIC) chaired by him while its implementation would be monitored by the Exco committee chaired by MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.