Posts Tagged ‘Funds’

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RM12 million for Indian youths via TEKUN

March 9th, 2009
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As highlighted by Mahendran (evidently one can view TEKUN website as well), one of the rules listed is:

Bumiputera dan berumur 18 – 65 tahun.

I’ll consider it as information not updated yet,  because back in 2007, Samy Vellu said that TEKUN has opened application to Indians for the special fund from government (EPU or MECD?). Oh, one more thing, their “SKIM-SKIM PEMBIAYAAN & PROGRAM TEKUN NASIONAL” is not accesible. So one does not know what schemes are being offered.

TEKUN has been one of the vehicles used to provide allocations for Indians in the last few years. In July 2007, Samy announced that Rm3 million will be channeled through Yayasan Tekun for “500 Indian youths to obtain micro business loans“. At that time, the fund was open for graduates of Giat Mara and Insken. However, not many applied for the fund said Samy. Interestingly, MIC and YSS was supposed to do conduct roadshows to provide info on the fund application. The figure RM3 million was repeated last year, but no one clarified if its the same as the one in 2007 or a new amount. Well, let’s leave the past to the past.

We now hear deputy minister in PM’s Department, Senator T Murugiah saying that RM12 million has been allocated by EPU via TEKUN (released last week!) to “help Indians who find it difficult to obtain loans to start small businesses or expand existing ones” that “would provide opportunities for the community, especially youths.”

“The Indian community should stop blaming the government for not doing enough for them. The community should take this opportunity to turn makkal sakthi (which means people’s power) into porlaadharam sakthi (economic power) for itself,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on micro-business and agro-based industries, which was organised here by the Indian Community Affairs Department in the Prime Minister’s Department yesterday.

Hmmm…I think its high time the “Indian Community Affairs Department” has a microsite under PM’s Dept website because the deparment is not even listed in PM’s Department structure (mind you, its been one year since last election!). So, cynics like me will wonder if these things really exists. And if I’m not mistaken, the said department is under SK Devamany while Murugiah handles Public Complaints Bureau.

In case readers want to clarify, please email/tel/fax them as follows (all info below available in public domain):

Murugiah:
Telephone: 03-8888 3540 / 1440
Fax: 03-8888 3541
E-mel : murugiah@pmo.gov.my

SK Devamany:
Telephone: 03 – 8888 3360 / 3361 / 3362
Fax: 03 – 8888 3363
E-mail: skdevamany@pmo.gov.my

Murugiah also mentioned that the fault may lie with the community:

He said he learnt during briefings by the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry that the Indian community either showed little interest in starting businesses or was unaware of opportunities available.

On a side note, he said that he sponsored 300 Indian youngsters to train in leech rearing in Butterworth as the business gave high returns.

Previously, the application of the funds can be made via YSS (Level 5, Menara Manickavasagam, at No 1, Jalan Rahmat, 50350 Kuala Lumpur, telephone (03) 4041-5958 or Fax (03) 4041-5681.). But not sure now, since PPP’s Murugiah had sort of taken over the project. As mentioned by Mahendran, one wonders if a long article on the RM12 million can be written, how hard is it to just insert information on HOW TO APPLY or WHO TO CONTACT? Doesn’t it make the reporter, editor, newspaper company, and the deputy minister look dumb? If an officer/executive/clerk/student write article like this without mentioning the most important fact, surely will be sacked or get low marks. What to do, we the public have to suffer substandard reporting like this.

So, those still interested to apply, just call the person in charge (Senator Murugiah) and get more details from him.

UPDATE: YSS website mentions the following:

In Perak, YSS with the assistance of the MIC Perak and especially with the smart partnership with Perak MIC youth conducted at least 15 road shows. During the road shows, information on this loan scheme was disseminated and the application forms were distributed to those requested. This road show received wide response from the young Indians. A total of nearly 850 people participated in these road shows conducted in and around Perak.

As of date YSS have received 185 applications forms from the State of Perak alone. In Perak the response was truly good. A word of appreciation goes for the hard work and support rendered by the Perak MIC. Dato G. Rajoo and the MIC Perak Youth Chief Mr. Shanmugavellu.

The loan that is made available will truly assist the young people to further enhance their businesses and in turn will improve their income level and economic status. We have come to understand that the Tekun Nasional will disburse the loan for all applicants within a month. It has been told to YSS that the first batch of 37 applicants will receive their loans before Deepavali.

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MIBC First Anniversary Dinner

March 8th, 2009
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The Malaysian Indian Business Co-operative Society Limited or MIBC was officially registered on 11th June 2008. It is almost a year since we held our first AGM and submitted our application to the Co-operative Department.

Within this space of one year, the Board of Directors have sourced a suitable office space in Brickfields that can be used to provide more effective services to members and to implement programs for wealth accumulation for the benefit of members.

Long term strategies include buying and selling/renting of properties in strategic locations. Other activities will be in the area of training and development and management consultancy. However these activities can only take off if we have our own office premises. We also have other options that we are looking at.

The office space costs RM130,000.00 and we may need another RM30.000.00 to carry out renovations. MIBC hopes to pay for the office space with own funds rather than going for loans.

To celebrate our First Anniversary and to raise some funds for the Office Space we are holding a Dinner. Details of the function is as below:

(i) Venue – Bangunan Peladang, 2, Jalan Templer, Petaling Jaya
(ii) Date: Saturday 18th April 2009 -7.00 p.m..
(iii) Ticket Price: RM800/- per table of ten pax or RM80/- per pax.
(iv) Souvenir Program : please contact us to take up advertising space

We are inviting the Minister for Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development as the Guest of Honour. We have lucky draws and entertainment with songs and dances.

I seek your co-operation to take part in this event to help out the co-operative to serve its members. Besides learning about the activities of our co-operative this will be a great time to meet and network.

Please make your bookings by email to ganapathy_ramasamy@yahoo.com
Tel: 013-3691021

Do remember your participation will help the Co-operative grow and provide the much needed impetus for greater participation of our community in the economic sphere. Be a part of the action to purchase the office lot and make our presence felt in the landscape of Brickfields.

Regards
Ganapathy Ramasamy
Chairman, MIBC

Contact us for any enquiries or to be a member:

KOPERASI PENIAGA-PENIAGA INDIA MALAYSIA BERHAD (W-6-0450)
MALAYSIAN INDIAN BUSINESS CO-OPERATIVE LIMITED (MIBC)

No. 3, 1st Floor, Jalan Ara, SD 7/3A, Bandar Sri Damansara,
52200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-6277 9280 Fax: 03-6277 9290

General Enquiries : enquiry@mibc.org.my
Website: www.mibc.org.my

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Vetripadigal by MIC

February 27th, 2009
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Vetripadigal means steps to victory. MIC is hoping that its new project will win over the youths, especially students. From my understanding, its catered for those students by providing info on education opportunities and financial aid. Its being conducted under a grant (amount unspecified) from the government. Its being done at the right time since SPM results are coming out on the second week of March and this month long project will benefit the students and parents. Note that there’s a seminar planned on 14th March at UM for about 5000 students.

The details below:

In an attempt to empower the Indian community and allow them full access to the country’s economic, political and social opportunities, MIC is embarking on a project called ‘Vetripadigal’ which will be premiering soon in 11 states.

The project, which was announced by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany in parliament yesterday, will be kicking off on March 1 in Melaka, with an official launch by MIC president S Samy Vellu at the party’s headquarters on March 6.

Devamany said the objective of the project was to gather all Indian students, especially those who miss out on opportunities because of financial inadequacies, as well as students who are weak and average in their studies, and inform them of their choices.

“We are targeting those aged between 15 to 25. There will be information on skills training as well as information on scholarships and financial aids,” said Devamany, who is the project director.

“The project was undertaken with a grant from the government and it is my job to create awareness on the facilities available,” he added.

The project, which will go on until the end of March, includes seminars, counselling sessions and career guidance workshops.

“Understanding the difficulties students might be facing at the most crucial point of time in their lives, it is imperative to have a comprehensive seminar to help students make the correct choices that will determine the course of their professional careers.

“Our main objective will be to disseminate information on the demands of a profession after graduation and to create interest among students on alternative courses apart from traditional courses like engineering, medicine and law,” said Devamany.

According to Devamany, the project is under MIC’s social arm Yayasan Pemulihan Sosial (YPS) and will also be detailed in a free book and CD, to be released soon.

The main agenda on the itinerary is the seminar which will be taking place on March 14 at University Malaya, where Devamany said organisers expect a crowd of at least 5,000 students from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Devamany also opined that the project is crucial as parents are increasingly more concerned with politics rather than spending time understanding the needs of their children.

“The paradigm has somewhat shifted to politics and even the youngsters are more interested in politics. I think it is detrimental to the communities to be so focused on politics, especially now with all the economic uncertainties,” he said.

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Indians ignorant or ignored?

February 23rd, 2009
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I read with interest on the following article from the Star:

Most Indians are still unaware of the various financial and business development schemes offered by the government.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister Department Senator T. Murugiah said he was surprised that the community was not aware of these opportunities.

He said there were many programmes designed specially for those interested to venture into business activities, including agriculture and animal breeding.

Murugiah said some Indians had taken part in street rallies and blamed the government, claiming that the community was sidelined.

“In fact, we have many programmes and schemes to help the people, regardless of races, but the Indians were ignorant about them,” he said.

In view of this, Murugiah said seminars were carrying out nationwide to create more awareness about the business opportunities for the community.

“We will brief you on the government schemes and provide the necessary assistance to help you start a business,” he said at the Small Businesses and Agro-culture Seminar here on Sunday.

Murugiah has also called on Indians to be more vigilant about taking advantage of such schemes and opportunities.

I wonder, did the deputy ministers before Murugiah (or other ministers/agencies/departments) initiate such programmes to create awareness among the community? We are only seeing such awareness campaigns in recent times while for other races it has been done regularly over the years.

Even in this case, is just beginning. We have to see a 2 year plan at least to gauge the success of such awareness campaigns. We also have to look at the number of successful qualified applicants of business schemes.  Hopefully through such seminars, more people end up with doing some business and able to earn an income.

Let’s look at the hurdles facing those seeking information. Firstly, there’s the problem of accessibility in terms of locations. Most of the offices/branches are not near to the pockets of areas where Indians live. Secondly, the language barrier between service provider and those that speak broken English or Malay. Third, the lack of Indian staff in the front line especially acts as a mental block to the under-served community. They automatically feel they won’t be entertained. Fourthly, the information is not properly provided, resulting in multiple trips to the office, increased costs and repeated submissions. Those that lack schooling will find it quite tough to go through the process. Fifth, some of the schemes require documents that are not available to small-time or odd job workers. Thus, the mechanism to help them must also be explained so that they don’t feel sidelined.

The final reason is the staff of service providers themselves who at times do not do their job properly. This cuts across race because I have met Malay entrepreneurs who complained about government agencies/dept staff not doing their job properly/dragging their feet/expecting something/biased/careless/uninformed/rude etc.  When our makkals face similar situation, they immediately think of racial discrimination.

My view is that the information flow is mainly through RTM/Media Prima channels – something that is not the preference of poor, rural and suburban folks. The focus should be on Astro tamil channels, tamil papers, and THR Raaga too. The seminars should also be held in areas with high concentration of Indians, especially in rural and suburban areas (one was held in Sentul recently).

Also, those schemes that are exclusively for “bumiputras” or need some partnership/linkage with such groups must be clearly labelled so. This will avoid unnecessary anger and resentment when the applicant’s forms are rejected due to not fulfilling the “requirements”.

As more youths are exposed to such programmes, they chances of them wasting time loitering and getting involved with unhealthy elements will be reduced. A youth who is busy won’t have time for creating nuisance.

Ultimately, being ignored is half the story. After all this awareness campaign, some people will choose to remain ignorant.

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SJKC Sin Ming invites opposition to function

February 22nd, 2009
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Some time ago, when the Selangor government announced ceremony to award RM4 million to Tamil schools in Selangor, quite a number of schools stayed away because they were verbally warned by Education department. I didn’t see any comments from MIC to protest against the warning. True, the state government could have been more discreet and avoided the controversy, but I guess they wanted to milk as much publicity and good name as possible.

Today, SJKC Sin Ming, which is quite near my house, invited Selangor MB Khalid to officiate the new four-storey building. Worse still, they also invited Anwar Ibrahim as guest of honor! Others invited included Kuala Langat MP Abdullah Sani Hamid, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and three Selangor exco members – Teresa Kok, Ronnie Liu and Yaakob Sapari. One can only imagine the anger in Education Department 🙂

Malaysiakini reports that, in response, the education authorities have barred the school’s headmaster and teachers from the event, according to board chairperson Chai Yoon Peng.

The chairperson also said that invitations were sent to key federal and state reps from Umno, MCA and Gerakan.

“No one should view education issues through a political lens,” said Chai, adding that the school board would invite anyone who is willing to assist the school.

The chairperson was worried that a pledge of RM120k by Education Ministry through the deputy minister Wee Ka Siong may be retracted.

“He (Wee) said he has approved the funds, but we must wait until the Feb 22 (today) and see what other issues we have. Then, we must ask (Sungai Pelek assemblyperson) Yap Ee Wah (from MCA) to call him,” said Chai.

Inviting the MB was not in vain. He announced a donation of of RM50,000 to its coffers, courtesy of the Selangor state government, and also announced that the state government would assist the school in adjacent vacant land for expansion purposes.

At a press conference later, Anwar responded to the possibility that the Education Ministry may withhold funding for the school.

“That would not be very smart. This is about education and the rights of all schools. This (the money) is not coming from the education minister’s pockets. If it was, he can hold it. We’re talking about taxpayers money and funds which have been promised.

“I think it is absurd and irresponsible on the part of the deputy (education) minister to threaten schools in this manner and treat Chinese schools as part of the MCA outfit… don’t condemn children just because you have lost support of the Chinese community,” he said.

Response from Wee:

Deputy Education Minister Wee denied that his ministry had exerted pressure on teachers not to attend today’s event. He told Malaysiakini that he did not hold back on the RM120,000 funding to Sin Ming school. According to him, the final approval of the funding will be made next month.

I think MCA won’t dare to do anything as stupid as that. It will be the death knell for the party if it is seen potentially harming chinese schools. Anyway, I think the school was trying to pre-empt any backlash from politicians at federal level by given ample publicity to the pledge by Education Ministry. As it is, the episode in SJKC Damansara (relocated to Tropicana)  is still a bitter pill to swallow even though the school has been reopened this year. They won’t want to have another potential bomb on their hands.

I wonder if this happened to Tamil schools, what would the response be from community political leaders.

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