LETTER | Indian community neglected in Budget 2024

LETTER | It’s no surprise that the human resources minister came out to defend Budget 2024, which has clearly neglected the Indian community.

The very community that had backed Pakatan Harapan wholeheartedly in the last general election.

As a cabinet member, of course, he had to defend the man who presented the budget, who is his boss. However, the fact remains that the Indian community is not getting what it used to get under previous administrations.

How will V Sivakumar justify the imbalanced budget, especially for Indians? We have been marginalised for so long.

Then came a leader who branded himself as “MGR” (former Indian actor and politician) to save the Indians and Malaysians as a whole - but ended up giving a pittance to the community that gave 95 percent support in the last general election.

RM100 million for the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) and RM30 million for Tekun Nasional are not new schemes introduced by Anwar’s government.

It was actually introduced by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and remained since then.

In fact, Najib specifically allocated funds for Tamil schools in the budgets. Sivakumar claimed that RM50 million has been allocated for Tamil schools under Budget 2024 but we can’t find it in the budget speech, apart from a mere mention of RM1 billion for upgrading all schools.

If indeed there’s a specific allocation for Tamil schools, why the reluctance to put it in the budget speech?

When Anwar tabled his first budget (for 2023), the same argument was put forth, as though Tamil schools would be treated fairly. But, was that the case?

Can Sivakumar or his colleagues detail how much really Tamil schools got for this year? For a community that has been marginalised for so long, education is the only light at the end of the tunnel, and uplifting Tamil schools are synonymous with the empowerment of the community.

The human resources minister also points to the RM50 million allocated for the non-Muslim places of worship that will benefit Indians.

When we say non-Muslim places of worship, that includes Taoist, Buddhist temples, churches and temples. Does Sivakumar know how many of these establishments are there in Malaysia?

Indian temples may just receive a tiny share of this amount and he wants us to be happy with that.

Remember when DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng questioned the budget tabled during the tenure of Ismail Sabri Yaakob?

He lamented that Indians and Chinese were not getting a fair share of the budget. But, now a minister from his own party is defending such a pittance as “fair”. Should we call it a “karmic irony”?

On top of this unfair budget, Indians continue to get shortchanged by this government. Indian students with excellent pre-university results are being denied from pursuing the courses of their choice, especially medicine.

Indian students with excellent SPM results are still being denied a place in matriculations. At least, Najib ensured a minimum of 2,000 Indian students got a place in matriculation. Can Sivakumar publish the number of students who got matriculation places for this year?

I can go on with this but it will not change the reality. The numerically smaller Indian community is being taken for a ride, again.

However, the one who is doing it this time is someone who gave us hope in the past. Our numbers may not matter today, but when it does, the Pakatan Harapan leadership will regret taking for taking the community for a ride.

Writer is a former assemblyperson for Bagan Dalam.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.