KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), an agency under the Prime Minister’s Department, has been actively assisting the Indian community since it was rebranded with several new enhancements.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P. Waytha Moorthy said the agency would continue to alleviate poverty and provide greater access to education for the community.
“We have taken key proactive measures and actions, developing a more transparent delivery system of Mitra funds following recommendation by the National Audit Department.
“To date, the agency has successfully processed for approval close to RM96 million of the RM100 million allocated in the 2019 Budget,” he said in a statement.
Waytha was responding to a claim by Batu Gajah member of parliament Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu, that Mitra was repeating the same mistake committed by the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community Unit (Sedic) under the previous administration.
“I am happy to point out that we have been very transparent with the allocation as all parties receiving these monies are publicly identified in our Web site.
"It surprises me that Sivakumar would make such statements as he has been briefed about Mitra’s activities previously,” he said.
Mitra, said Waytha, had also assisted the Indian community, especially in the education and retraining areas, preparing them to play a more important role in the economic mainstream of the nation.
“Last week, I was visiting Indian youths who were part of the Mitra sponsored retraining programme, which is a collaboration with Huawei to equip these unemployed graduates in the field of information and communication technology, and increase their employability and preparedness for Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0),” he added.
Waytha also refuted accusations that the agency was disbursing funds to unrecognised educational institutions. He gave assurance that he would be providing detailed information in the Dewan Rakyat next week.