Indians among country's poorest, deputy minister reminds govt

Three Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders have called on the government to provide fair and equitable attention to the issue of poverty among the Indian community in Malaysia.

They said the fate of the Indian poor must be defended, especially on issues concerning citizenship, education and the role of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) in safeguarding their welfare.

Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Saraswathy Kandasami said that while the government's efforts to eradicate extreme poverty span across all communities, the Indian community must be given full attention.

She said that it is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's mandate that no one is sidelined in the nation's development, adding that statistics found Indians had the highest rate of poverty in the peninsula.

Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran meanwhile touched on the misappropriation of funds within Mitra, an issue that has garnered wide attention from various parties, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, over the past several years.

"Since 2016, hundreds of millions of ringgit have been allocated to Mitra.

"These funds were meant to help the Indian community, especially the B40 group, but they have been misused by certain politicians and government officials," he said during a press conference in the Parliament lobby.

He said he had discussed the matter in the meeting earlier and called for a comprehensive investigation into possible embezzlement within the agency, adding that an internal audit process is underway.

"We hope the investigation will be conducted thoroughly so that those who have misappropriated funds for personal gain will be brought to court and action is taken against them."

In April, the PH-Barisan Nasional coalition government announced the appointment of Sungai Buloh MP Ramanan Ramakrishnan as Mitra's new special committee chairman under the Prime Minister's Department.