Ramanan denies claims of crisis in Mitra

Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister R Ramanan has denied allegations of a crisis within the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra).

Responding to media queries on alleged tensions between Mitra’s Special Task Force Committee chairperson P Prabakaran and himself, Ramanan (above) dismissed the claims as untrue and the work of certain individuals on social media.

“Who said there’s a crisis? There’s no crisis. Sometimes, people on social media have nothing to write, so they make up stories.

“YB Praba just met me; we’re still friends and continue to work together. There’s no crisis. Mitra is continuing its work as usual,” he told reporters after attending the Madani Deepavali Open House 2025 in Brickfields today.

Ramanan explained that together with Prabakaran, they continue to work closely to ensure all programmes for the Indian community are conducted transparently.

Malaysiakini had previously reported several incidents involving Ramanan and Prabakaran over Mitra’s affairs, including a Mitra meeting chaired by Ramanan at the Parliament building without Prabakaran’s presence.

Recently, Ramanan, who is also PKR vice-president, announced that he had received instructions from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to assume leadership of Mitra.

However, Prabakaran, who is also Batu MP, later told reporters that he had yet to receive any official letter or directive from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) regarding any leadership changes in the agency.

Coordinating programmes

Elaborating further, Ramanan stressed that his role was merely to coordinate government agencies and programmes related to the Indian community to ensure alignment, not to take over anyone’s authority or role.

“As the prime minister mentioned, there are many government agencies helping the Indian community. So, my responsibility is just to coordinate, not to take over or steal anyone’s job.

“I hope ethical media won’t fall into that trap. There’s a lot of fake news circulating now.

“Sometimes there may be differing opinions, but we are all part of the unity government, the Madani government.

“We follow one leadership - Anwar Ibrahim. There are no two heads,” he said.

Ramanan also explained that the newly established Indian Initiatives Implementation and Monitoring Committee will work alongside Mitra to ensure all decisions are made collectively and transparently.

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