Legal Bureau, National MIC Youth

24/12/2023

MEDIA STATEMENT
THINALAN T RAJAGOPALU
NATIONAL MIC INFORMATION CHIEF
24TH DECEMBER 2023

TRANSFER OF MITRA TO UNITY MINISTRY WAS DONE IN CONSULTATION WITH PAKATAN HARAPAN AND NOT BARISAN NASIONAL OR MIC

It is truly a disappointing decision to transfer MITRA back to the Ministry of Unity, as all the efforts made prior to its placement under the Prime Minister’s Department have dissipated. It is important for MITRA to remain under the purview of the Prime Minister in order to continuously serve the Indian community without any particular preference or political pressure.

The distribution of funds and programs will have to reach the Indians in need, and placing it within the purview of the PMO will allow it to cut through the red tape so that it can reach the needy as soon as it is required. It is an absolute disappointment to know that the Malaysian Indian Congress(MIC) and stakeholders of the Indian community were not consulted if MITRA should be removed from the PMO and placed back under the National Unity Ministry.

MITRA was first established in 2014 as SEDIC (Socio-economic Development of the Indian Community) under the PMO until it was rebranded as MITRA and transferred to the Ministry of Unity in 2018. It remained under the ministry throughout Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s premiership until it was again placed back under the PMO in 2022 under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri’s tenure as Prime Minister. It should also be noted that the Indian Consultative Council, which was set up by the MIC, comprising of various stakeholders and NGOs. The council then produced a report, which was submitted to the Prime Minister. Datuk Seri M.Saravanan, the then Minister of Human Resources brought forward the underlying issues of the Indian community directly to the cabinet which needed the direct intervention of the Prime Minister, and such issues were given immediate attention. So, MIC had a structured system of resolving issues of the community and bringing forward aspirations of the Indian community upon feedback from the ground and stakeholders. MIC was the catalyst in making sure that MITRA was placed back under the PMO upon listening to various stakeholders of the community.

It is understood largely that MITRA funds were not directly channelled to the affected groups and individuals. This indirect nature of disbursement only benefited the NGOs. This is the reason why the funds meant for the community have been abused to the advantage of the directors of the organizations, and such possibilities will shrink if it is allowed to remain under the PMO.

The fact that no one was consulted except the leaders in Pakatan Harapan and no efforts to look into the need for the transfer is saddening. If TERAJU is able to remain under PMO and having been successful, why cant we wish the same for MITRA? Despite unreasonable allegations of misuse that were always thrown to MIC, we atleast took an effort to establish the Indian Consultative Council and engaged every Indian stakeholder to look into the future of the community.

MIC is not raising this issue just to undermine the Minister or Deputy Minister of Unity’s capability but we have seen how such a situation turned into a disaster before. How can Indians have faith in the system and their leaders if the same mistake keeps repeating? This move will not take the “all of the community” approach and will be clearly seen as an approach to safeguard a particular group for personal agenda.

Ends.

19/07/2022

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20/11/2021

மாநில அவையில் இந்திய சமுதாயத்துக்கான ம.இ.கா-வின் குரல் மீண்டும் ஓங்கி ஒலிக்கத் துவங்கும். மாண்புமிகு அண்ணன் சண்முகத்துக்கு நெஞ்சார்ந்த வாழ்த்துகள்.

Gadek kembali BN. Tahniah YB VP Shan.

28/10/2021

According to Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed, the officers will be subjected to disciplinary action as the deputy public prosecutor has decided to not press criminal charges against the suspects.

27/10/2021

High Court judge says police collected only one sample of urine for analysis instead of two.

20/09/2021

A 24-year-old marketing executive was charged at the Magistrates Court here today with the murder of two teenagers following a fatal traffic collision while driving against traffic along the Federal Highway two weeks ago.

Devaaswin is accused of murdering 18-year-old Nur Afiqah Abdul Karim and 19-year-old Muhammad Hafiz Syamir Dzul Asri along KM8.6 of the Federal Highway (KL-bound), Shah Alam, Selangor around 1.50am on September 12.

Nur Afiqah and Muhammad Hafiz who were the driver and passenger, respectively, died from injuries sustained after their Proton Wira Aeroback was rammed by a Mitsubishi Triton driven against traffic by the accused along the Federal Highway.

29/06/2021

He did not even turn up in court!

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today granted MIC Leaders Tan Sri Vigneswaran and Datuk Seri Saravanan a global sum of RM95K as aggravated and exemplary damages in a defamation suit against social media activist Dayalan Sreebalan.

Lawyer Vischaal Yogaratnam from Messrs Vas & Co, who represented MIC president SA Vigneswaran and deputy president M Saravanan, said His Lordship Justice Dato’ Ahmad Bin Bache delivered the decision today after a 1-hour hearing , via a remote proceeding this morning due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Plaintiffs had obtained a default judgment against the Defendant after he had failed to enter his appearance in court, despite acknowledging the suit being filed against him in a recent video.

The learned judge had granted a permanent injunction against the Defendant, restraining him from posting defamatory material against the Plaintiffs and to remove all defamatory posts.

Vischaal added that the judge had also allowed leave for the Plaintiffs to commence committal proceedings and the Plaintiffs will proceed to commence ex*****on proceedings if the Defendant were to breach the terms of the injunction granted.

The defamation suit was based on 2 videos that contained defamatory statements against Tan Sri Vigneswaran and Datuk Seri Saravanan, whereby Dayalan had made various false and calumnious statements.