Effort to encourage more Indians to join armed forces underway: Subra

PUTRAJAYA: The Cabinet Committee on Indian Community (CCIC) will be launching a special programme next month to encourage more Indians to join the Armed Forces, said MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.
He said the programme which is expected to commence throughout the country's military barracks with the cooperation of the Armed Forces, is in line with the Prime Minister's call to have the Indian community make up 7% of the civil workforce in the country.
"At present, Indians only make up 1.6% of the total personnel in the Armed Forces. We have received positive feedback from the Armed Forces and will begin promoting the Indian intake effort immediately," he told reporters after chairing the CCIC meeting at the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community (Sedic) office, here, today.
Meanwhile, Subramaniam said that the Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) scheme for the Indian community has so far reached RM317 million in investments since its launch on Jan 29.
In an effort to reach the target of RM1.5 billion in investments, he said MIC would continue to intensify its campaign and promotion, expressing belief that the target of RM1.5 billion could be achieved.
"So far we have gathered 41,000 investors into the scheme. We will continue to enlighten the Indian community further to invest in the scheme and hopefully hit the target within six months if possible," he added.
Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB) had launched the 1.5 billion of additional AS1M units for the Indian community to purchase on Jan 29.
While a special allocation of RM500 million for the Indian community under the B40 category for AS1M investments will be launched at the end of the month.