SUBANG JAYA, July 27 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P. Waytha Moorthy today called Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy “ignorant” for questioning the whereabouts of the RM100 million government allocation for the development of the Indian community.
Speaking to the press today on the sidelines of a forum discussing Orang Asli children’s education development, Waytha Moorthy said that details of the allocation and its beneficiaries are already listed on the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) website.
“See, the money that has been disbursed is already on the Mitra website okay. I think he is ignorant of certain facts. It’s up to him. He can criticise. People can go on criticising till the cows come home, but we have an agenda to follow and we are starting afresh.
“Ours (Mitra) was formed, even though it was formed immediately after I resigned in 2013 but it was not functioning. Now that I have taken over, we have rebranded and we are starting from zero. So you can’t immediately compare us with other ministries. We are working it out. It takes time,” he added.
Earlier today, Ramasamy in a statement, hit out at Waytha Moorthy, alleging that the RM100 million given to Mitra has been distributed to several organisations which are not known.
“Apparently the fund has been dispensed to various organisations, but until today there is no transparency.
“Waytha Moorthy who is supposed to present the information to Elected Indian Representatives Council of PH (EIRCPH) has not done so. His refusal to attend the meetings suggest that he is not keen on a full disclosure of how the money was spent or he thinks that it is beneath him to attend the meetings of the council,” Ramasamy said.
He also reminded Waytha Moorthy who had briefly served as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, of the alleged fund mismanagement under Barisan Nasional (BN) which he said came at the expense of the Indian community.
“Funds meant for the Indian community ended up in the coffers of individuals and organisations that had no interest in the uplifting of the Indian community. The emergence of PH government was meant among other things to check and correct the abuses of the former BN government.
“Now if Waytha thinks that by being silent, he can ignore the demands of accountability, he is certainly wrong or ill-advised. All he needs to do is publicly account for how RM100 million taxpayers’ money was spent, for what purposes and names of organisations that received the funds,” Ramasamy further said, also questioning Waytha Moorthy as to why the latter “settled” for a mere RM100 million to address the core problems of the Indian community.
“Was there a proposal for a bigger amount or he refused to open his mouth in the Cabinet for a better deal for Indians? A full transparency is needed on the matter of funding!” Ramasamy added.
Waytha Moorthy said that Mitra is perhaps the only unit in the entire government which displays a list of beneficiaries, and the sum they received.
“He is misinformed, he is ignorant. He can always pick up the phone. We belong to the same government. He can always pick up the phone, call me and speak to me, and I’ve had briefings before. I’ve had briefings for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Elected Representatives. I’ve attended the meetings before.
“Just because I don’t attend one meeting... and I can’t be attending all the meetings that they organise,” he said, adding that he would be organising one in the next two to three weeks to update about the funds.
