A Malaysian Indian official has blamed Tamil cinema for young people from the community taking to crime.

N.V. Subbarow, education officer of the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP), was quoted by Malaysia Namban newspaper as saying that the 'incidence of crime among Indian youths was related to violence depicted in Tamil films'.

Malaysia's estimated two million ethnic Indian community is predominantly Tamil that watches Tamil films, mostly sourced from India.

Subbarow said that so far no concrete action had been taken to cure such social ills as the government, politicians and community were 'too busy blaming each other', The Star newspaper said Monday.

Ethnic Indian leaders generally complain of falling moral and social standards among the community due to lack of adequate religious and moral teachings.