Party president P Punithan said the Indian community, being the third-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, often received far less government support than the other communities.

He said the RM100 million allocated under the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) was insufficient, and that anything less than RM500 million would not bring about meaningful changes.

“Mitra was established as a transformation unit, but with RM100 million, it is only able to provide social welfare services.

“When you know it’s not enough and you keep giving the same amount, nothing will change,” he told FMT.

Punithan also called for a consolidated total of direct and indirect funds exceeding RM3 billion to effectively empower the Indian community.

It was previously reported that the RM100 million allocated to Mitra last year had been fully utilised in implementing socio-economic programmes, mainly benefitting the B40 group. The funds supported 216 programmes, helping 134,247 participants.

Punithan reiterated hope that the upcoming budget would include the implementation of the Malaysian Indian Blueprint and he also called for the formation of a Cabinet committee for the Indian community, to be chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“The Indian community doesn’t need temporary or ad hoc solutions. We need permanent, realistic development agendas,” he said.

Punithan warned that if the unity government failed to deliver in the annual budget that would be tabled tomorrow, it would further erode the community’s trust.

“Stop making promises if you can’t deliver,” he said.