KUALA LUMPUR: There has been no discrimination in the distribution of government aid, particularly towards the Indian community, says Datuk Seri R. Ramanan.
The Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said the government had disbursed special aid totalling RM3.17mil to 90 non-Muslim places of worship.
“The allocation is not specifically for the repair of temples or churches, but more focused on programmes designed to assist citizens in their areas.
“For instance, for the B40 group in these areas, they may require tuition classes or religious learning; the financing is strictly for these purposes,” he told reporters after presenting aid to the Indian community’s places of worship here yesterday.
He said the aid was another example that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not marginalised Malaysian-Indians, adding that the Prime Minister has consistently paid attention to the affairs of the Indian community.
“Work has to be done. The people must benefit. The issue at hand is that sometimes we don’t see him in the flesh, but all of us, including MPs and state assemblymen of Indian ethnicity, would execute the work and trust given to us by the Prime Minister,” he added.
Empowering communities: Ramanan standing in for the Prime Minister at the ceremony to hand over allocations from the government at Kalamandapam Hall, Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama
Ramanan said since the establishment of the Madani government in November 2022, the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) has successfully utilised 100% of its allocation in 2023 and 98.9% this year for the welfare of the Indian community.
“This is a stark contrast from the previous years from 2016 to 2022 when each year, a significant portion of the allocated fund (for the development of the Indian community) was left unspent by the previous government.”
He added that the government had offered an additional allocation of RM136mil for the Indian community through the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry.
This demonstrated the government’s commitment to empower the community, he said.
On Saturday, Anwar called for a stop to narratives involving racial profiling in the context of aid distribution and efforts to combat hardcore poverty in the country.
