Who S In Charge Of Mitra Disgruntled Officers Claim They Don T Know

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Who is in charge of the Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra)?
ADSThat's a question that several disgruntled senior officers claimed they themselves don't know the answer to.
At the heart of the matter appears to be dissatisfaction that the Prime Minister's Office has been allegedly undermining the unit.
“Since the Madani government took over Mitra, this unit has had no clear direction. We ourselves don’t know who has the authority to make decisions about Mitra programmes," said one of the officers on condition of anonymity.
“Previously, Mitra was the unit screening all applications before approving and acting as a regulatory body.
“Now, programmes approved by us are rejected by the PMO. We spent nearly four months reviewing all applications before granting approvals. But they were simply dismissed.
“What’s more frustrating is that new programmes are announced without our knowledge,” they added.
Previously, in July, sources claimed that the PMO had unilaterally announced 16 programmes under Mitra, while rejecting several proposed programmes ostensibly due to overlap with programmes by other agencies and ministries.
Origins of Mitra
Mitra was established in 2018 as a rebranding of the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community (Sedic), aimed at addressing poverty and strengthening the socioeconomic development of the Indian B40 community.
The unit is parked under the PMO and is managed by a special committee.
From April 2023 to February 2024, Sungai Buloh MP R Ramanan chaired Mitra. Batu MP P Prabakaran then replaced Ramanan after the latter became the entrepreneur and cooperatives development deputy minister.
Despite this handover, Ramanan appears to have been placed back in the driver's seat lately.
ADSIt is understood that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, through Treasury secretary-general Johan Mahmood Merican, instructed Ramanan to handle Indian community affairs, including formulating new initiatives for the community.
Ramanan also recently chaired a Mitra special committee meeting at Parliament without Prabakaran present.
Bone of contention
One of the officers who spoke to Malaysiakini also had a bone to pick with Anwar himself. The senior officer claimed to have been blindsided when Anwar announced RM40 million in allocations for Mitra programmes in Parliament last month.
"I had no indication about the recent Parliament announcement (by Anwar)," the source said.
On Aug 19, Anwar announced four programmes, namely:
RM5 million to upgrade infrastructure in Indian villages, on top of the RM10 million allocated in Budget 2025 for the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
RM5 million to upgrade ICT labs in Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT).
RM20 million to strengthen Hindu places of worship as community centres under the National Unity Ministry.
RM10 million for one-on-one assistance to carry out minor repairs and maintenance of houses for B40 Indian plantation workers.
Prabakaran, in a press conference after the prime minister's announcement, indicated that the RM40 million would be allocated this year.
However, the senior officer claimed that this is supposed to be part of the 13th Malaysia Plan, and should have used ministry funds instead of digging into Mitra's coffers.
"Each ministry has its own allocation. If you want to improve ICT labs at SJKT, we have Education Ministry funds, and to strengthen Hindu places of worship, there are National Unity Ministry funds.
"For Indian villages, we have Housing and Local Government Ministry funds. Why is there a need to use Mitra funds?" the officer said.
Prabakaran also voiced similar concerns when debating the 13th Malaysia Plan last month, lamenting that government agencies appeared to be referring anything and everything involving the Indian community to Mitra, and treating it as a "catch-all" unity.
Malaysiakini has contacted the PMO, Ramanan, and Prabakaran for a response to this story, but has not yet received a reply at the time of writing. - Mkini

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