KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants to eradicate hardcore poverty in the country, including among the Indian community who are regarded as among the poorest, said Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister K. Saraswathy.

She said this message was conveyed by the prime minister at a special meeting with Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) from the unity government and other leaders of the Indian community at Parliament Building today.

"While focusing on efforts to eradicate hardcore poverty, the Indian community should also be given attention in line with the Madani government’s desire to give equal opportunities to all quarters.

"The message from the prime minister is that no one should be marginalised by the country’s development wave,” she told a press conference after the meeting.

Also present at the meeting were MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, DAP vice-chairman M. Kulasegaran, Senator Datuk Nelson Renganathan, Senator Datuk C. Sivaraj, Batu MP P. Prabakaran and Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) special task force chairman Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan.

Meanwhile, Ramanan said the prime minister told the meeting a study on the direction of the Indian community had been conducted as part of efforts to protect the welfare of the community in the long term.

"In the hour-long meeting, the prime minister gave detailed information and spelt out his expectation of Indian community leaders. The Mitra issue was also raised, and we briefed the prime minister and submitted our report,” he added.

According to him, Anwar listened to the views of the Indian community leaders on various matters and discussed issues related to education, poverty, citizenship and the Indian Community Action Plan. — Bernama