Rina Harun denies Mara retrenchment allegations

Rural Development Minister Rina Harun has urged people to stop spreading rumours that some staff in a Mara subsidiary had not been paid for months.

PETALING JAYA: There is no retrenchment of staff in Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), Rural Development Minister Rina Harun, who oversees the body, said today.

She urged people to stop spreading such false information.

The minister also denied reports that employees from one of its subsidiaries had not been paid for months.

“All these are untrue and lies,” she said in a statement.

It is understood that these allegations had surfaced on social media.

Rina Harun.

Rina said such talk does not help strengthen Mara or help it become a significant institution to advance the development of Bumiputeras.

Her statement comes in the wake of reported plans by Mara to close its corporate arm, Mara Corporation (Mara Corp).

This plan has drawn brickbats from Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu (MTEM) and the Malaysian Malay Chamber of Commerce (DPMM).

Earlier reports said Mara wanted to narrow its scope of responsibilities to just education and entrepreneurship.

In her statement today, Rina did not touch on these reports.

Instead, she said Mara intended to focus on strengthening its learning institutions to produce employees for the future workforce.

It also plans to invest In an endowment fund and improve its management of investments in various sectors, she said. - FMT