| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 6 Nov 2015 | Asia Samachar |
Four Sikh non-governmental organisations (NGOs) received a total of RM945,000 from the Federal funding for projects to improve the position of the bottom half of the Indian community in Malaysia.
Ipoh-headquartered Khalsa Diwan Malaysia (KDM) received the lion’s share of RM600,000.
The other three are Malaysian Sikh Women’s Awareness Network Society (SWAN) receiving RM171,740, Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) receiving RM140,000 and Negeri Sembilan Sikh Union (NSSU) receiving RM33,250.
The total amount received is just below 1% of the RM100 million earmarked by the Federal government to improve the position of the Indian community, with 600,000 Malaysian Indians classified to be in the bottom 40% in terms of income earned in 38 districts in nine states. They have a household income of less than RM2,537 per month.
Prime Minister Mohd Najib Razak handed mock cheques to 30 Indian-based NGOs in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, with KDM and SWAN among them.
“It is definitely encouraging for the government to realise that all these organisations are performing worthy activities and projects for the community that require attention and financial aid,” SWAN president Satwant Kaur tells Asia Samachar.
“Swan is extremely grateful for the contribution made by the government to help women. These funds will go towards skill training projects to help women supplement their income.”
The 30 NGOs are some of the 380-odd NGOs that had made the cut for funding vetted by the Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community (SEDIC).
“We will publish the full list of NGOs that received the funding soon. They are required to sign a memorandum of understanding with us and adhere to the guidelines on fund usage,” said SEDIC director Prof Dr N.S Rajendran.
SEDIC is a special unit formed under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to handle the special funding for Indian NGOs, a task previously handled by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), also under the PMO.
KDM was represented by its president Santokh Singh.
[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]
RELATED STORIES:
KDM, MGC, MSU, SWAN among Sikh orgs to receive federal funding (Asia Samachar, 4 Aug 2015)
CMSO attends Putrajaya briefing (Asia Samachar, 11 June 2015)
Sikh NGOs to attend Putrajaya funding briefing (Asia Samachar, 9 June 2015)
Special funding for Indian NGOs to be finalised this week – BERNAMA (Asia Samachar, 3 June 2015)
Special funding out soon for Indian NGOs (Asia Samachar, 2 June 2015)
Sikh reps to attend 11th Malaysia Plan discussion (Asia Samachar, 31 May 2015)
Selangor Vaisakhi Open House: CMSO (Asia Samachar, 17 May 2015)
Johor Bahru gurdwara requests return of land (Asia Samachar, 20 Apr 2015)
Perak PEC centres get total RM65k funding (Asia Samachar, 8 Feb 2015)
Selangor state urged to assist teaching of Punjabi language – Asia Samachar (17 Dec 2014)
Johor state has been supportive of Sikhs: Manjeet (Asia Samachar, 9 Dec 2014)
Perak allocates RM500,000 for Sikhs in state budget – Asia Samachar (8 Dec 2014)
Sad to see that there is still no comment from any of the recipients of the grants.
Silence may give the perception that there may be cases of possible/suspected
MISMANAGEMENT-FRAUD-CORRUPTION IN THE USAGE OF FUNDS and
this may not reflect on the integrity of the Management members who are
mainly professionals and/or leaders of the community.
Apologies to anyone may be inclined to misunderstand my intentions or that
I am pushing my views on others.
Sikh NGOs receive RM950,000 Federal funding. These are Ipoh-headquartered Khalsa Diwan Malaysia (KDM) received RM600,000, Malaysian Sikh Women’s Awareness Network Society (SWAN) receiving RM171,740, Malaysian Gurdwaras Council (MGC) receivED RM140,000 and Negeri Sembilan Sikh Union (NSSU) receivED RM33,250.
My appreciations and thanks to the Federal Government for these donations.
Now it is for these NGOs [and others who received Grants from any source] to ensure that the FUNDS ARE USED FOR THEIR INTENDED PURPOSES WHICH WOULD BE TO BENEFIT AND ASSIST THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS FOR WHOSE BENEFIT THE GRANTS WERE GIVEN.
One of the methods to ensure their intended use would be for the Managements of these NGOs to be transparent on the way the funds are utilized and how they benefited the community members.
It is strongly emphasized that the Managements of the recipient NGOs to make public the usage of the Grant Funds so that the community will be aware of the good work they are doing via these Grant funds.
As the Grant information has been published in the ASIA SAMACHAR and the Community knows about it, it may be appropriate to PUBLISH say QUARTERLY THE DISBURSEMENT-UTILIZATION-RECIPIENTS-ACQUISITIONS-EXPENSES-ETC. This disclosures should continue until the funds are fully utilized.
The info should not be restricted to only the members of the NGOs but to the community as the Grants came from taxpayers’ funds. This will need to TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY AND SHOW THE HONESTY AND ETHICAL MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS AND THUS GOVERNANCE BY THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES.
Above suggestion is not to imply that the above has not been done but
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THAT IT IS SEEN BY ALL THAT IT IS DONE.
Apologies if anyone were to misunderstand my intentions but I am talking from my 37 years of audit experience where I have observed misuse/abuse and fraud in management of such funds by high post holding professionals many of whom were highly educated and trusted members of society including religious/charities NGOs.
BEST PRACTICE IS TO PREVENT AND NOT LOOK FOR CULPRITS AFTER THE MISUSE/ABUSE/FRAUD IN FUNDS
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
Gursharan Singh C.M.I.I.A.
019-2927178 >gursharan38@gmail.com<
31.12.15