Mitra being treated like a foster child, says Santiago

 

Former Klang MP Charles Santiago says the constant transfer of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit shows there is no Indian leadership that can take ownership of the community.

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Charles Santiago has criticised the government’s apparent indecision regarding the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), saying the agency is being treated like “a foster child”.

Speaking to FMT, Santiago said the constant transfer of Mitra from the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD) to the national unity ministry and back since 2018 was tiresome and insulting to the Malaysian Indian community.

“Mitra is being treated like a foster child. Nobody wants to take ownership of it.

“A lot of people are losing faith with such back and forth, giving rise to a lack of confidence in the Indian community towards the government,” the former Klang MP said.

Charles Santiago.

Santiago added that these transfers of purview would affect Mitra’s operations, and that by the time its plans were rolled out, it would be too late.

He said Mitra’s initial objective was to transform and uplift the Indians in the B40 income segment, noting that the Malaysian Indian Blueprint clearly underscored the issues at hand and the strategies to resolve them.

Unfortunately, he said, the blueprint had yet to be implemented.

“The back and forth of switching Mitra (between the PMD and unity ministry) also shows there is no Indian leadership that can take ownership of the community,” he said.

Yesterday, unity government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil announced that Mitra would return to the purview of the PMD.

Fahmi said this was jointly decided by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and national unity minister Aaron Ago Dagang.

Previously known as the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community Unit, or Sedic, it was under the PMD before being rebranded as Mitra in 2018 and placed under the national unity ministry.

In September 2022, the Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration returned Mitra to the PMD’s purview.

However, in December last year, Anwar announced that Mitra would be placed back under the national unity ministry although he said he would continue to monitor the special unit.

The national unity ministry received backlash after taking over management of Mitra, with three Indian groups calling for Aaron to step down after the minister reportedly said he “did not know the purpose of Mitra”.

Aaron also denied that Mitra’s funding was controlled by Pemandu, the performance management and delivery unit in the PMD. He said Pemandu was simply tasked with conducting workshops and labs to facilitate strategic planning for Mitra and its blueprint. - FMT