As Malaysians wait in anticipation for the 2022 National Budget announcement on the 29th of October 2022 by the Finance Minister, there is a growing concern if all of the 2021 allocation of 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 the clarity on how the RM100 million allocated by the Government for the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (MITRA) under the Ministry of Unity, Datuk Halimah Sadiq was spent in 2020 and in 2021.
According to Datuk Halimah in an answer given in Parliament on the 6th of October, MITRA had to only receive 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 were used to pay off a debt which was 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?
In addition to that, there was also a viral message that made its rounds on over RM23 million allotted to 15 NGOs to run programmes and courses to improve and advance the socio-economic status of Malaysian Indians, some receiving up to RM9.15 million in grant and others ranging from RM300,000 to RM1.5 million.
Are the contents of the viral message true? Datuk 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 a 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.
The crux of the issue is not the act of disbursing money by MITRA for NGOs to run classes, skills training and courses on entrepreneurships, digital literacy, social skills and others but the mechanism of awarding of 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 Ministry of Finance remains as 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 for 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 Key Performance Indexes (KPI) of the programmes and how many had benefited from it.