‘We’ve done more than MIC and BN’

Kedah state exco S Manikumar defends the Pakatan state's record in providing for the Indian community in the state.

PETALING JAYA: A Pakatan Rakyat state assemblyman has dismissed allegations by certain quarters, including a few Indian-based NGOs, that the Kedah state government had not done much for the Indians there.

According to Bukit Selambau assemblyman S Manikumar, the state government had done its best to help the community bearing in mind its ‘limited resources’

“It’s unfair to expect Pakatan to clean up all the mess left by the Barisan Nasional in more than 50 years within three years.

“But we are trying our best to help the Indian community in the state with the limited state resources (that we have).

“We are not getting the amount of allocation that other BN ruled states get from the federal government,” said Manikumar who also heads the state’s tourism, Indians affairs and human resources portfolio.

Citing Tamil schools and temples as examples, he said the Pakatan-led state government had done far more for the state’s Indian community than MIC.

“Talking on Tamil schools, there are 58 Tamil schools in Kedah and only nine are under the fully-aided category (which means they receive full financial grants from the federal government).

“The rest 49 Tamil schools are partially-aided schools where the money given by the Education Ministry is only for the purposes of school activities and not for the upgrading of the school infrastructures.

“This year the state government allocated RM229, 000 to be disbursed to all of the 58 Tamil schools.
“The amount each school received varied depending on the needs of the particular schools,” he said.

Tamil schools and NGOs

Manikumar claimed that such disbursements to all Tamil schools had never occured during BN’s rule in the state.

According to him, in the past money came only during election campaigns when MIC will request ad-hoc allocations for certain Tamil schools and that there was no proper structure to the disbursements.

“But under Pakatan government, the allocation for Tamil schools are included officially under the state yearly budget,” he said.

He also slammed Indian-based NGOs who complained of receiving nothing from the state government.
He said unlike the BN regime which cared less for proper allocation strucure, the Pakatan state government insisted on paperworks and proper documentations.

“We had given RM7, 000 last year and RM20, 000 this year to Kedah branch of Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) to carry out activities that are related to the community. The activities were to weed out social ills among Indians.

“We can’t entertain every single NGO that come without proper paperworks or documentations to back their claims.

“I proposed to the state government to approve the request by MHS based on the documentation evidence of their programmes and activities.

“MHS itself is an established NGO and was founded in 1928,” explained Manikumar, who is also the PKR’s central leadership council member.

Temple and cemetry
He also pointed out that the Kedah state government had granted a land title to the 100-year-old Sri Mahamariamman Temple at Jalan Bakar Bata in Alor Setar.
“The temple was granted a land title last year and the temple land has been gazetted under National Land Code.
“Also this year the state government approved and allocated five acres of land for a cemetry for the Hindu community in Langkawi.
“During BN’s ruling for more than 50 years MIC never took the initiative to get the land title for the temple or a Hindu cemetery in Langkawi.
“But we have done it in less than three years,” Manikumar told FMT.

Thaipusam holiday

On calls for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday in Kedah, Manikumar said the matter was still under consideration.

“We in the state government don’t have any objections but there are many rules and acts to be studied first.

“The thing is that the state holiday quota has been fully utilized and we need to amend the state constitution. Then we also need to get the consent of the Sultan of Kedah.

“At state government level we had a series of meetings on this issue but we also need to consider the opinion of the private sector, especially from the industrial sector as there are concerns on their productivity.

“So we are still evaluating many aspects on this,” explained Manikumar.