PUTRAJAYA is urged to create a task force to ensure Budget 2024 allocations for the Indian community are delivered in a transparent manner and reach the intended recipients.

Former DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said this was important to evaluate the deliverables the community will receive.

“There should be a task force led by an independent group to ensure that the funds are going to the target groups and can realise the future of the community,” the Selangor Indian Consultative Council member said.

“We have talked so much about transformation (for the community) but we must know how the funds are being used to resolve issues facing the people.

“We also must see if the recipients are benefitting from the funds allocated for them. The task force is important to evaluate this,” he said.

He said this following claims from certain quarters that the allocation for the Indian community under Budget 2024 was inadequate.

Out of the RM393.8 billion sum allocated in the nation’s largest ever spending bill, only RM130 million was set aside specifically for the Indian community.

This comes via a RM100 million allocation to the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) and RM30 million under the Tekun scheme for businesses run by Indian entrepreneurs.

Santiago, a former Klang MP, agreed that the allotment for the Indian community was not much different compared to the budgets of previous years.

“It is an allocation that has been given all this while. It is the standard RM100 million for Mitra and RM30 million for Tekun,” the chairman of the National Water Services Commission said.

Several had expressed unhappiness at Anwar’s Budget 2024 provision for the Indians.

Former DAP leader P. Ramasamy was among those who had criticised the government for its allocations for the Indian community.

Ramasamy said Budget 2024 was no different to earlier budgets under the Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional governments.

He said the budget offered nothing substantial to lift the socio-economic status of the Indian community – the majority are of the working class.

New political context

Universiti Malaya political analyst Sharmin Kutty Sivaraman said the Indian community should not be disappointed with the funds set aside for them under Budget 2024.

He said the prime minister was trying to restore the country’s economy to a more effective level with the budget.

“The term ‘postnormal times’ is applied in this situation because this is a very suitable time for Anwar to see more clearly in relation to what happened in the country over the past three years when the economy was very poor,” he said.

Sharmin added that Anwar’s main focus in Budget 2024 was on education, health and youth. These three are intertwined and will become the biggest contributors to the development of the country.

“Although there was nothing significant for the Indian community, the Indian society needs to understand that we are currently in a new political context, where the allocations should be given fairly without taking into consideration one’s race or religion.

“Matters related to equality, openness, acceptance for reforms need to be accepted to ensure that this new brand of politics continues to be accepted, especially in the context of this budget,” Sharmin said.

He said political leaders and parties fighting on the issue should sit and discuss matters.

“They should bring proposals that are more focused, more realistic ideas need to be presented to the prime minister,” he said.

Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Saraswathy Kandasami has also refuted claims that the Indian community was neglected in Budget 2024.

She described the allegations as coming from quarters who do not have adequate knowledge about the budget. – October 28, 2023.