THE government always pays special attention to the Indian community in various aspects, such as education and the economy, caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Citing Budget 2023, which was tabled on October 7, he said the plan covered various initiatives specifically for the Indian community, such as the RM100 million for Indian entrepreneurship development under the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra).

“Previously, Mitra came under the National Unity Ministry, but it has since been moved to the Prime Minister’s Department to be placed directly under the prime minister. This shows the importance of the development of Indians in Malaysia. 

“In addition, an allocation of RM25 million was also given to the Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Scheme under the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry,” he said at a tea session with the Indian community in the Bera parliamentary constituency at Dewan Kompleks Umno Bera today.

Touching on the aspect of education, Ismail said although it was not specifically stated, allocations were also given for the development of Tamil national-style primary schools, plus an additional RM5 million to make it RM25 million in allocation for AIMST University, which is a MIC-owned private university based in Sungai Petani, Kedah.

The government, Ismail said, had implemented various upskilling and reskilling training sessions, which had benefited 42,544 Indian trainees as of August at a cost of nearly RM77 million.

“As for job placement, a total of 68,996 people from the Indian community have been assisted as of September in various fields of skills and industries,” he said.

Although there is a specific allocation for the Indian community, Ismail said the government never sidelined the other communities, with various contributions given to everyone eligible as the aim is to ease the financial burden of the people, especially those in the B40 category.

For example, he referred to the early schooling aid being increased from RM100 to RM150 for all pupils from next year as well as the RM2,500 aid for households with five or more children, saying this had never been done by the previous government. – Bernama, October 16, 2022.