PUTRAJAYA is doing its best to uplift the Indian community, and its efforts should not be undermined or politicised by critics, Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Ramanan Ramakrishnan said.

He said the critics, who are mainly leaders of political parties in the community, should stop race-baiting.

He challenged these leaders to prove what they did to raise the socio-economic status of Indians while they were in power.

“Some will speak loudly now, but when they were in office for years, they did not do much. There was also this leader who was a senator and tasked to manage the Malaysian Indians Transformation Unit funds. He returned almost RM98 million of the RM100 million that was allocated to the community to the government,” Ramanan told The Malaysian Insight in a recent interview.

“And yet, these are the people now criticising me and the government for trying to improve the livelihoods of the Indian community.”

Although Ramanan did not name anyone, it is clear he was talking about former deputy Penang chief minister P. Ramasamy and former senator P. Waytha Moorthy.

In early June, Ramanan announced that Bank Rakyat was allocating RM50 million to the Bank Rakyat Indian Entrepreneur Financing-i (BRIEF-i) programme to provide capital for Indian micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.

The programme drew criticism after applicants complained of difficult terms and conditions for qualification.

Indian restaurants seeking aid said they were required to have halal certification to qualify for the programme.

Ramasamy said Ramanan had deliberately withheld information about the conditions for the financial support.

Waytha Moorthy said it was not practical for non-Muslim businesses to seek halal certification.

Ramanan’s response that a halal certificate would be good for Indian businesses also did not go down well.

He had told The Malaysian Insight that halal certification was not a requirement but rather “advice” from the shariah-compliant bank disbursing the loans.

He also said there were many non-Bumiputera businesses with a halal certificate.

Well-received aid

The Sungai Buloh lawmaker said the BRIEF-i programme continued to be positively received by the Indian community.

He said 43 applications for a total RM3.8 million of aid have been approved, with the highest loan recipient getting RM1 million.

Ramanan said the BRIEF-i programme has received more than 1,000 enquiries from Indian entrepreneurs.

Among these, 135 applications for RM5.7 million in loans are being processed, he said.

A check with Bank Rakyat showed that the majority of enquiries were from the restaurant and transport and logistics sectors.

Ramanan said he expected the bank to approve the full RM50 million worth of applications by August.

“In the span of 14 days, we have already hit 10% of the amount,” he said, adding that he will ask Bank Rakyat for additional funds if need be.

“To get the loan approved, applicants have to make sure they have the required paperwork. We have simplified the application process as much as we can, and we can see that even a RM1 million loan was approved within 14 days.

“This is because we want to make this easy for the people,” he said.

Valliamma, 49, who was among the BRIEF-i recipients, said her RM220,000 loan was approved in about three days.

Ramanan advised those who failed to get the financial assistance not to give up hope.

Ramanan said rejected applicants could seek aid from the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional).

“There are RM50 million in the BRIEF-i programme, another RM30 million in Tekun Nasional, and a RM50 million grant under Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia to empower Indian women.

“The government is looking at introducing numerous initiatives to help the Indians so that no one is left behind,” the PKR deputy information chief said.

In May, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had never sidelined the Indian community. – June 30, 2024.