> I find it curious that "safety" wasn't one of the points
It was implied by the context of "ML" languages. That was my intention at least; I thought ML languages were characteristically safe.
Regarding "C-like", I mostly mean syntax. I'm not too familiar with the ML family, but many FP languages have bizarre syntax which amplifies the difficulty of learning new concepts IMO.
If you're looking for C-like though, you are probably not in any modern-featured language designer's aim.