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Thursday, July 9, 2015

With MIC in limbo, Indians place hope in NGOs

Indian Malaysians now are placing their faith in Indian-based non-governmental organisations instead of MIC to address community issues. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 9, 2015.Indian Malaysians now are placing their faith in Indian-based non-governmental organisations instead of MIC to address community issues. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 9, 2015.
With MIC now embroiled in a leadership tussle and in limbo, the responsibility of uplifting the socio-economic status of Malaysian Indians has fallen on Indian-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The 68-year-old party, a component member of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and long perceived to be upholder of the rights of Indian Malaysians, is caught up in a leadership tussle and can no longer take care of community affairs. 
Political analysts said NGOs were appearing to be more effective in disbursing financial allocations marked for the development of Tamil schools and to improve their socio-economic wellbeing.
A special unit in the Prime Minister's Department, Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community (SEDIC), would undertake the disbursement of the funds through selected NGOs and training institutions, and not through individuals or political parties, according to its director Prof Datuk Dr N.S. Rajendran.
He said SEDIC, which was established in May last year, was the first such dedicated unit to be set up by the government to coordinate the handling, disbursement and monitoring of funds for Indians.
On how the unit planned to disburse the RM100 million, Rajendran said NGOs have been invited to submit proposals on how they could help the target groups in one or more of the 11 scopes identified by SEDIC, including development of Tamil schools, issuing of identity cards to undocumented Indians, university admissions, youth at high risk and Indian participation in the public sector.
"The proposals will go through different stages of screening before they are approved by the prime minister.
"After the money is channelled to the successful NGOs, we will follow up on the implementation of their programmes, monitor them and conduct an impact study," Rajendran said, adding that only NGOs with the experience, capability, expertise and accountability would be given the go-ahead to implement their proposals.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) principal fellow Prof K.S. Nathan lauded the federal government's efforts to channel funds to the Indian community through SEDIC and various NGOs.
"I don't think we should focus too much on the MIC's problems because in doing so, we are diverting our attention from our community's problems. When it comes to empowering the Indians, NGOs have proven to be more reliable than political parties like the MIC," he said.
He said Indians have been gradually losing hope in political parties and were looking towards civil society to help them fight for their cause.
"Right now, civil society is doing a good job in helping to uplift Indians, particularly school dropouts. In this respect, NGOs like the Tamil Foundation and MySkills Foundation are doing a fantastic job.”
He also singled out the Sri Murugan Centre and Education, Welfare and Research Foundation Malaysia as outstanding examples of NGOs involved in assisting underprivileged Indian students to improve their academic performance and pursue tertiary education.
The NGOs, added Nathan, were also more connected to the grassroots and understood their plight better.
The MIC’s woes erupted last December following differences of opinion between former party president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and acting president Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam over the Registrar of Societies' (RoS) notice instructing the party to hold re-elections for the three vice-presidential and23 Central Working Committee posts.
The RoS had nullified the elections held in November 2013 following complaints of irregularities. – Bernama
- TMI

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