Mitra Channels Rm500k For Amanah Ikhtiar S Deepavali Programme

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The Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) has approved an allocation of RM500,000 for a food basket project in conjunction with a Deepavali programme organised by Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, an agency under the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry.
According to a letter dated Sept 19, 2025, Shahrol Anuwar Sarban, who is the principal private secretary to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, had requested the allocation from Mitra director-general G Prabagaran to fund food baskets for 5,000 recipients from the B40 group.
In the letter sighted by Malaysiakini, Shahrol also told Prabagaran that the prime minister had given his nod to the programme.
“Thus, I forward you the letter for your attention and further action,” Shahrol said.
The Prime Minister’s Office had previously stressed that the RM100 million fund parked under Mitra would only be channelled to high-impact programmes and had to go through detailed scrutiny.
Malaysiakini has reached out to Shahrul, Mitra, Amanah Ikhtiar, Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister R Ramanan, and PMO for comments.
Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister R RamananAccording to a source from Mitra, the unit has carried out 13 programmes that were said to be high impact so far.
They include six “Thevaram” (singing of devotional songs) programmes, football training (three), and one programme each for STPM students, Tamil literature, automation engineering training, and a hairstyling course.
PMO rejects several programmes
Malaysiakini previously reported that PMO had rejected 30 programmes that had been approved by Mitra for overlaps, including programmes related to the technical and vocational education and training (TVET), which falls under the jurisdiction of the National TVET Council.
Instead, PMO had approved only 13 programmes, with their budgets slashed close to 50 percent.
According to the programmes’ documents, the cumulative amount of budgets was at RM1.7 million. However, following the budget cuts, they have now been reduced to RM900,000.
'Charlatan PM’
Meanwhile, Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) deputy president S Subramaniam condemned the government for channelling Mitra funds to Amanah Ikhtiar.
“This is a serious abuse of power. We all know that Amanah Ikhtiar is under the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry.
“Even if Amanah Ikhtiar wants to help the Indian community, they should just use the ministry’s funds.
“Why do they want to use Mitra funds? Let’s say they still want to use Mitra funds, why not Mitra itself handle this food basket programme?” he asked when contacted by Malaysiakini.
Malaysian Indian People’s Party deputy president S SubramaniamSubramaniam then trained his gun at Anwar, calling the prime minister untrustworthy.
“I want to say that Anwar is a charlatan. He doesn’t even appreciate the support the Indian community has given him since 2008.
“You spent hundreds of millions on useless programmes. Don’t tell me that you don’t have RM500,000 to give to the Indian community. And this is only once a year,” he said. - Mkini

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