KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar has refuted claims of the Indian community not being given any specific allocations in Budget 2024 compared to previous national budgets.
The Cabinet’s sole Indian minister said the Unity Government has never neglected the community’s welfare and has continued to introduce various special initiatives in the budget presented by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on October 13.
RM100 million has been allocated to the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) and RM30 million via the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun) for the Indian Micro Entrepreneur Financing Scheme.
“The government has also allocated RM50 million as financial aid to manage registered non-Islamic places of worship, for repair and maintenance work,” he said at a Deepavali reception organised by DAP leaders for the Tamil media today.
On specific allocations to Tamil vernacular schools (SJK(T)), Sivakumar said almost RM50 million had been allocated to these schools this year, including RM20 million for maintenance, while 152 SJK(T) received RM70,000 each for toilet maintenance to ensure students’ comfort.
The Indian community has also benefited from the allocations provided in various sectors, including health and education.
Several Tamil newspapers had previously reported there were no specific allocations for the Indian community in Budget 2024, including for SJK(T) schools.
Also present at the event were Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Teo Nie Ching, Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ling, and DAP vice-chairman M. Kulasegaran.
— Bernama
