KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26: Human Resources Minister V.Sivakumar said he was confident all the funds allocated to the Indian community under 2024 Budget will be fully utilised for the wellbeing of the community.
Unlike the past years, when significant part of the allocations had been returned to the Ministry of Finance without them being used, he said this time around, all the allocations must be fully utilised, namely the RM100 million given under the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), the RM30 million for businesses under Tekun, funding for Tamil schools as well as for the building of non-Muslim worship places.
The community has many needs and considering that, even if the allocated RM100 million is not really a huge number, these funds must be fully utilised, he said during a Deepavali reception orgnaised by DAP leaders for the Tamil media here Thursday.
Otherwise, in the subsequent years, the community will not be able to get higher allocations meant to strengthen its economic and social wellbeing and the return of unused allocations must be avoided, he said.
On claims that the Indian community has not been given sufficient funds, Sivakumar said this was not true.
“Apart from the specific allocations to the community, the Budget 2024 has also given large allocations to various ministries including the Education Ministry and Health Ministry as well as government agencies, where the beneficiaries will be people from all races in the country, including Indians.
–WE