It started when PPP’s Deputy Minister in PM’s Dept Senator T Murugiah said “Malaysian Indian leaders are responsible for the community’s economic backwardness because they failed to play their roles effectively” and that one should not blame the government or PM Badawi because “the prime minister had appointed Indian community leaders to help the community”.

The articles seems to wrongly mention the following – “Murugiah, who has been entrusted with Indian affairs in the Prime Minister’s Department, said these community leaders should be blamed for not disseminating correct information to the community, resulting in its backward economic state.” As far as I know, SK Devamany is in charge of Indian Community Affairs while Murugiah is overseeing the Public Complaints Bureau. Not sure if there were swappings, but no official news so far.

Murugiah went on to say:

He said the failure to convey correct information and the opportunities made available by the government in the economic field had enraged the Indian community and caused it to rebel, as demonstrated in the last general election.

“In fact, many business opportunities have been made available by the government for the Indian community but lack of exposure and knowledge of this have kept the community backward,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on small businesses and agro-farming for 500 people, here.

Murugiah said many business opportunities and loans had been made available by the various government departments and agencies for the Indian community but many Indians had not taken advantage of these.

He said claims that the government had marginalised the community in terms of the developmental and economic aspects were unfounded.

Of course, one would ask what he is doing about it. His comments:

Murugiah said he had drawn up a series of seminars at state and district levels to enlighten the community on ways to find employment and seek business opportunities.

The seminars also see participation by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry, the Youth and Sports Ministry and banking institutions.

“Through these seminars, we will expose the participants to the small business opportunities which do not require huge capital and investment but can generate a monthly income of at least RM6,000,” he said.

The insinuation that MIC leader did not do his job (well, who else do you think he was refering too?) was not taken lightly by MIC. Human Resource Minister Dr S Subramaniam fired the first salvo:

“The MIC has no time to respond to statements regarding the progress of the Indian community in the country as there are other better things to do,” he said in response to Murugiah’s statement that blamed the MIC for the poor economic showing of Indians.

Dr Subramaniam said Murugiah’s statement was baseless as MIC leaders had actively promoted the interests of the community over the past 60 years.

“It would be better if he concentrated on doing something positive for the community rather than passing negative comments on what others are doing and by so doing only creating unnecessary friction among leaders.

“We cannot waste time commenting on everything he says. There are many other better things for the leaders of the Indian community to do,” he said.

Next to be pissed off was SK Devamany, who is left wondering what is his portfolio actually. He is bewildered that thing related to his portfolio is being announced by another person. Devamany chided Murugiah for “intruding” into his territory:

He said Murugiah, also deputy minister in the department in charge of the Public Complaints Bureau, should not have spoken on Monday about the RM12 million allocation by the Economic Planning Unit for Indian businessmen.

Devamany, who said the EPU came under his jurisdiction, added that the announcement should rightly have been made by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday. He said it was also unethical and unacceptable for Murugiah to make the announcement before Najib.

“The RM12 million Tekun loan, RM12.2 million for skills training and RM50 million for Tamil schools were all obtained through recommendations by the EPU,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby.

Last year, Federal Territories Deputy Minister Datuk M. Saravanan lambasted Murugiah for saying that Kuala Lumpur City Hall, which comes under the Federal Territories Ministry, should undertake lift repair work at a privately-owned condominium in Sentul. They also had a tiff over the resettlement of Kg Pandan Indian settlement residents.

I guess once a mosquito, always a mosquito. 🙂