'Where's the RM70m?' - MIC asks Waytha, Guan Eng to 'open their mouths'

MIC claims that the Indian community is likely to lose most of the RM100 million allocated in the 2019 Budget by the Pakatan Harapan government.

MIC senator S Ananthan took both Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department P Waythamoorthy to task for the slowdown, after the latter said that only RM31.5 million had been distributed through the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) for socioeconomic programmes.

"We (MIC) want Lim and Waythamoorthy to 'open their mouths' and explain Harapan's difficulty in distributing these funds," he told Malaysiakini today.

Ananthan (photo) said that most of the allocated funds would be frozen or inaccessible if they are not spent by the end of the year.

"So far only RM31.5 million has been spent. So that leaves the question of remaining RM69.5 million? Why are they so slow to allocate and distribute it?" he asked.

In response to MIC senator T Mohan's oral question in the Dewan Negara on July 23, Waythamoorthy said Mitra only began managing the funds from January.

"To streamline the transparent application system, the Grants Management System (GMS) was launched on Jan 28," the minister had said.

"Under the first phase, 40 Indian socioeconomic development programmes have been approved with a total allocation of RM15.7 million.

"While under the second phase, 60 programmes totalling RM15.8 million have been approved for the socioeconomic development programmes of the Malaysian Indian community." 

Waythamoorthy said that Mitra was focusing on high-impact programmes in an effort to enhance the quality of life and capabilities of the Indian community in a holistic way that covered education, economic and social aspects.

However, Ananthan said that this did not answer questions raised by the Indian community at the grassroots level.

Concerns over the RM100 million funds for the Indian community have been mounting after several NGOs and schools complained that their applications for grants were rejected without reason.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy (photo) has been leading the charge among Harapan leaders in pressing Waythamoorthy to clarify how the funds are being distributed.

Ananthan, who is also Kedah MIC chairperson, said he had urged Lim to respond to a complaint that the Finance Ministry had refused approval for the funds despite repeated requests by Mitra.

"We want Lim to explain how much the Finance Ministry has released so far. 

"This is so we will know where the problem is and who is not telling the truth," he added.

Malaysiakini is trying to contact Lim and Waythamoorthy for their comments.

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