MALAYSIA: FIRST OF ITS KIND HOSTEL FOR STUDENTS IN THE OFFING

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government is considering
setting up a hostel in the Klang Valley to cater for school students of all
races who face various problems at home, which impede their studies, in the
spirit of 1Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak said Monday.

The prime minister said the government was now looking for a suitable site
for the hostel, expected to operational next year.

"We have not yet thought of the name of the hostel but it will the first of
its kind having students of all races living together. This is an experiment and
then we will see.

"They can stay together and this will in turn foster good inter-racial ties.
We are hoping to start this next year. It would take in students from perhaps
Year 4 onwards to secondary school," he said after chairing the cabinet
committee meeting on the upliftment of Indians at his office here.

He said the hostel would be for students who faced various hurdles in their
studies due to pressure from home and the enrolment would take into account
various aspects.

The prime minister also said that the RM100million (US$1=RM3.5) allocation
under the first and second economic stimulus packages to repair and rebuild
Tamil schools nationwide was insufficient due to the increase in the cost of
building materials.

"When the tenders were called, we realised that the cost had exceeded the
budget. The committee will look at ways to overcome this problem," he said.

He also said that more than 2,000 Indian between the ages of 18 and 40 were
being trained at various government-run skills centres nationwide at an
estimated costs of RM20 million.

As for Indian participation in the civil sector, Najib said their percentage
increased from about 4 per cent in 2008 to 5.01 per cent this year.

"But we will continue our effort to increase Indian participation in the
government service to 7 per cent in the years to come. The committee has also
asked for increased Indian participation in government-linked companies as
executives or directors," he added.

He said efforts were also underway to increase Indian equity participation
in the country by allocating 15 per cent of shares in Amanah Saham Malaysia
(Malaysia Trust Schemes) and Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (1Malaysia Trust Schemes)
respectively to Indians in the country.

"This is our continuous effort to further increase Indian equity
participation to 3 per cent by 2020. We also discussed various other issues but
they need further discussion," Najib added.

-- BERNAMA