PETALING JAYA: Opposition MPs have demanded an explanation from the government about how it will ensure that newly announced measures and funds for the Indian community will not be abused.
“The issues here are transparency, accountability, and ensuring that the Yayasan Mitra and RM2 million in funds for poor Indian students are accounted for,” said Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto.
Her DAP colleague, RSN Rayer, who is the MP for Jelutong, called for assurances from Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob that the money would not be subjected to abuse and misappropriation.
Batu Uban assemblyman Kumaresan Arumugam questioned why Ismail had approved the creation of Yayasan Mitra while Mitra, the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit, was plagued with the misappropriation scandal that had led to the arrest of 22 people last year.
The trio were commenting on an announcement by Ismail yesterday on the creation of Yayasan Mitra and the transfer of Mitra from the national unity ministry to the Prime Minister’s Department.
Ismail had also announced that RM2 million had been allocated for Indian students from poor households, while RM25 million had been previously allocated for Indian community entrepreneurship development programmes.
Kasthuri questioned whether the amount would be adequate.
“The prime minister’s intention to help the Indian community at any time is welcomed but the issues here are transparency, accountability, and ensuring that this Yayasan Mitra and RM2 million are all well accounted for.
“The expenditures should be brought to Parliament for MPs to scrutinise,” she said.
She said MPs had been asking for a report on Mitra for over a year, since the misappropriation scandal was exposed, but to no avail.
Rayer said an oversight mechanism should have been created to ensure that Mitra was answerable to Parliament.
He urged Ismail to provide the facts and figures on how many Indian students, NGOs and entrepreneurs had benefited from Mitra’s RM100 million annual allocations.
“This is something that the PM should explain, even before making fresh announcements that new funds are being allocated,” he told FMT.
Kumaresan said the allocations announced by Ismail amounted to “pre-election goodies”, but they would not be enough to persuade the Indian community to vote for Barisan Nasional at the general election.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Advancement Party urged Ismail to appoint a minister from within his department to be directly responsible for Mitra’s affairs.
Its president, P Waytha Moorthy, said this minister should report directly to the prime minister and Parliament to prevent the mismanagement or loss of Mitra funds.
“I hope Ismail will also remove the red tape imposed on Mitra and give it free rein to plan its spending of allocated funds for the benefit of the community,” he said in a statement.
Waytha, a former national unity minister, also urged Ismail to reinstate Mitra’s website to ensure its management and expenditure were displayed transparently. - FMT
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