MP SPEAKS | With only five days to go before Budget 2022, the national unity minister must make all Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) applications, approvals and fund transfers involving the RM100 million government allocation for it a public document.
This is for transparency, accountability and checks and balances for all Malaysians including MPs in Parliament.
As Malaysians wait in anticipation for the budget announcement on Oct 29 by the finance minister, there is a growing concern if all of the 2021 allocations totalling RM322.5 billion had been spent wisely and did it indeed reach all target groups it was aiming for, or for reasons not made known, not used and returned to the government.
One such example is clarity on how the RM100 million allocated by the government for Mitra under the National Unity Ministry helmed by Halimah Mohamed Sadique was spent in 2020 and in 2021.
According to Halimah in an answer given in Parliament on Oct 6, Mitra had only received RM65 million in 2020 and RM49.1 million in 2021 instead of the full amount of RM100 million. She stated that it was to pay off Mitra debts when it was under the Prime Minister’s Department.
This revelation came as a shock to MPs and all Malaysians who had not known prior to the announcement that a portion of the funds was used to pay off a debt that was also not known to us.
To whom was the amount paid and for what? If it is a continuous programme, what is the key performance index (KPI) report for the project, programmes or courses? How many Malaysian Indians benefited from the programme?
Allocation for NGOs
In addition to that, there was also a viral message on over RM23 million allotted to 15 NGOs to run programmes and courses to improve and advance the socio-economic status of Malaysian Indians, with some receiving up to RM9.15 million in grants and others ranging from RM300,000 to RM1.5 million.
Are the contents of the viral message true? Halimah stated that after she took over, she imposed a cap of RM300,000 on Mitra grants to be given out to NGOs for their programmes. Was there a cap on grants given before this? If yes, what was it?
If it is true that allocations were given out according to the viral message, is Mitra monitoring the success rate of these programmes and how many of these NGOs had successfully carried out and completed these courses or programmes that were meant to upgrade and improve the lives of the participants?
With all these unanswered questions that lack transparency and a growing call for Mitra funds to be increased for the social and economic transformation of Malaysian Indians to RM200 million or more, this would be a fitting time for Mitra documents on applications by NGOs and the funds approved and transferred to be made public and placed on the tables of all MPs in Parliament so that there is greater accountability, check and balance and clarity on how Mitra funds had been spent.
Mitra’s report card on its expenditure in the past must be the benchmark for future increments.
Mechanism of awarding grants
The crux of the issue is not the act of disbursing money by Mitra for NGOs to run classes, skills training and courses on entrepreneurship, digital literacy, social skills and others but the mechanism of awarding grants to NGOs and the report cards by these NGOs.
Although Mitra is the sole government agency to channel funds to NGOs to uplift the socio-economic status of Indians, the Finance Ministry remains the custodian of these funds that must be audited and scrutinised by the auditor-general and the report tabled in Parliament.
It is the people’s money that must be returned to the people and as MPs, we are duty-bound to demand transparency on it.
I urge the government to be on guard and peg the finances of Mitra as one of the agencies that must be combed, sifted and scrutinised in their expenditure, the KPI of the programmes and how many had benefited from it.
KASTHURI PATTO is Batu Kawan MP.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
