Kuala Lumpur – Going by the press statement released by the Prime Minister’s department on 19th of May 2017 on the Malaysian Indian Blue print (MIB) and the re-structuring of SEDIC (Socio-economic Development of Indian Community) it appears that the implementation process of the much acclaimed document may become a tussle between desires of ‘political’ and ‘government administrative’ forces.
When announcing the ambitious and long-awaited MIB Plan on 23rd April 2017, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Bin Tun Razak announced MIC President and Health Minister Dr S.Subramaniam would be the Chairman of the Executive Committee tasked with the implementation of the MIB.
What PM Department’s press statement says?
However, the subsequent press release from the PM’s department on 19th May 2017 portrays completely a different picture on the implementation of the MIB. According to the statement, the following are the main features of the mechanism process:
- The Cabinet Committee on Indian affairs will be headed by the Prime Minister himself with Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam as his Deputy which will be the ‘parent’ body in overseeing Indian affairs and implementation of MIB.
- SITF (Special Implementation Task Force) which comes directly under the Cabinet committee will continue to be the “touch point” between the Indian community and the implementation authority and in this regard 10 SITF centers would be opened all over the country. 3 have already been commissioned. Dr Subra has been heading the SITF operations.
- SEDIC would be the sole implementation authority for the implementation mechanism of MIB with a total 6 divisions comprising 58 full-time staff and it will be headed by Datuk N.S.Rajendran, as it’s Director General. He will be assisted by a Deputy Director General.
- The operations of 3 units under the PM’s department namely SITF, SEED (Secretariat for Indian Entrepreneurs), and Tamil Schools Planning division (currently headed by Datuk N.S.Rajendran) would be merged under SEDIC.
- The Implementation Executive Committee headed by Dr Subra would supervise the operations and implementations of MIB and would meet on a monthly basis to evaluate and solve issues affecting the implementation process and would coordinate workings between the various government agencies and departments.
- The Cabinet Committee on Indian affairs headed by the Prime Minister would meet at least 4 times in a year to identify and solve issues and to ensure the smooth implementation of MIB.
- An advisory and consultancy panel has been established to advise SEDIC and Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Irwan Serigar bin Abdullah (pic) who is the Secretary General of Finance Ministry has been appointed as the Chairman of this panel.
Naturally questions arise as to why the implementation process of MIB is embroiled with so many committees and bodies.
Furthermore, what is missing from PM Department’s statement (on 19 May 2017) is a speculation that some former ‘4th floor backroom boys of former PM Abdullah Badawi’ are back in action and that they are the real ‘drivers’ of the implementation of MIB.
Appointment of N.S.Rajendran
The only consoling and welcome feature of the announcement is the appointment of Datuk N.S.Rajendran (pic) as the Director General of the newly re-structured SEDIC which has been entrusted with the task of implementing the Blue Print.
Rajendran (pic), understands the Malaysian Indian social and education territory well because of his past experiences. In recent years he has successfully steered restructuring and relocation of Tamil schools, a task assigned to him by the Prime Minister himself. In addition, during the last two years several Indian NGOs and their social transformation programmes were identified and funded by SEDIC, a unit under PM’s department headed by Rajendran. Armed with such experiences Rajendran emerges as the natural choice to administratively head the implementation of the Blue Print.
But the big question is where will he take his instructions from? From the Implementation Executive Committee or Advisory Panel for MIB?
Appointment of Tan Sri Serigar as the chairman of advisory panel for MIB also raises questions. He is already holding a powerful and important responsibility as the Secretary General of Finance Ministry, a full time job. Recently he was appointed as the Chairman of TRX City and Bandar Malaysia another mammoth and prestigious project undertaken by the government.
Although it has been said that appointment of the Finance Ministry’s Secretary General himself as chairman of advisory panel for MIB would ensure smooth implementation of the plan in terms of financial implications, whether a such a top civil servant with so many responsibilities already on his shoulders would be able to steer the advisory panel is also doubtful.
In conclusion, there are fears that identifying and implementing MIB initiatives may end up as a tussle between government’s bureaucracy, political desires and demands of some ‘interested groups’.
Let us hope, MIB initiatives would not become embroiled in such tussles, thereby defeating the noble aspirations of Indian community on MIB.
Such a consequence would also give credence to allegations by opposition parties that MIB is nothing more than a general election gimmick.
-R.Mutharasan
