Compiled by ZAKIAH KOYA, R. ARAVINTHAN and JAROD LIM
The Perak Indian Education Development Foundation has received more than 800 hectares of land for planting oil palm trees, with the intention of supporting students from B40 families.
However, over the 10-year duration of the program, only one payment of RM150 per student has been issued, according to a Perak executive council member as reported by Malaysia Nanban.
Furthermore, the foundation is now requesting an additional 400 hectares of land.
A. Sivanesan, the State executive council member in charge of Indian community affairs, stated that the land near Felda Besout was cleared and replanted with oil palm trees in collaboration with the National Land Finance Cooperative Society (NLFCS).
Despite already having several harvests, the foundation claims that 400 acres (162 hectares) of the land cannot be used due to rocky layers that affect profits.
However, Sivanesan criticized the foundation for requesting more land after providing such minimal benefits to the community in the past.
He said, “Any such request must be approved by the State executive council, but the foundation doesn’t even have any state government representatives on its board.” Sivanesan highlighted the foundation’s responsibility to regularly inform the public about land management and profit distribution.
In 2013, the state government allocated the land to be managed by the foundation, with the intention of supporting Indian students in the state.
Similar land allocations were made in 2008 for private Chinese and private Islamic schools.
There have been concerns about the foundation’s management of the land, as there has been limited information about profit distributions compared to Chinese schools that have reportedly received significant sums from their land.
> The Malaysian-Indian community in Johor Baru is frustrated after waiting 30 years for a designated area for their funeral rites, as reported by Malaysia Nanban. R. Suresh, a resident of Pasir Gudang, expressed disappointment over broken promises.
Despite demands, protests, and discussions by Indian organizations and NGOs, as well as numerous applications to the state, the matter remains unresolved.
In 2018, a development plan was issued for a location identified under the previous chief minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, but it was cancelled after the change in government. The plan was later revived by Datuk Hasni Mohammad, who served as the Mentri Besar from February 2020 to March 2022.
The community is waiting to see if the matter will progress under the current Mentri Besar, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
Suresh emphasized that without a designated area, they continue to face difficulties in conducting funeral rites for their loved ones.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
