“Ministers’ contradictive nature ‘irresponsible’, ‘not acceptable’,” says Ramasamy

“Ministers’ contradictive nature ‘irresponsible’, ‘not acceptable’,” says Ramasamy




PENANG deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy has accused certain Cabinet ministers of assuming contradictory roles in their quest for publicity, adding that these ministers would appear as champions of particular causes only for them to go back on their words later.

He said that these ministers either do not realise that they are contradicting themselves or they “simply do not care”, noting that these ministers washing their hands off the matter instead of taking responsibility tells the rakyat a lot about them.

“Take for example the case of forced labour. The Malaysian Government had hardly addressed the issue if not for the US authorities banning products from Malaysian firms due to allegations of forced labour,” he said.

According to the Perai assemblyperson, the moment the US authorities had raised their concerns over the matter both Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan and Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin had sprung into action.

“They promised that they will convince the US authorities that forced labour does not exist in Malaysia but having failed to accomplish that their show of bravado dissipated,” he elaborated.

“Saravanan has gone back to focusing on foreign labour recruitment while Zuraida has meekly advised the exporters of the primary commodities to comply with the US authorities’ conditions.”

“Their arrogant “we will convince the US authorities” and “there is no forced labour in the country” rhetoric has given way to the stark reality that the US authorities are not enthralled by the information that was provided to them.

“They have their own independent sources of information and most importantly, protectionism or not, forced labour is pervasive in Malaysia.”

Ramasamy also brought up the long-standing matter of pension and other welfare payments to over 300,000 armed forces veterans in the country.

Earlier this week hundreds of veterans had engaged in a rally in front of the National Monument in Kuala Lumpur and called on the Government to review the military pensions system while noting that under the scheme, most of the over 300,000 military retirees are living in poor conditions and are part of the B40 income group.

Rally organising committee deputy chairperson Mior Rosli Mior Jaafar, who is a retired air force major, in his speech at the rally said that the country’s leaders should not forget the veterans’ contributions to Malaysia, adding that they had fought to defend the nation but are left to fend for themselves after retirement.

On this matter Ramasamy said that since the veterans are categorised in the B40 group, the Government should not provide excuses in not resolving their grievances.

“Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who was one of the key figures in the Sheraton Move was not in his usual exuberant mood which is quite unlike the time when he justified the purchase of naval assets from France,” he commented.

“The energy and the high spirit in justifying the purchase of naval assets was completely missing when handling the issue concerning the provision of pension and other forms of welfare payments for the veterans.

“In fact, Hishammuddin in response to the demands by the veterans said that since the payments involved other ministries and departments, the matter has to be looked into carefully especially in the light of the country facing financial difficulties.”

While Ramasamy conceded that the Defence Ministry does not operate in a vacuum and that there are many matters that are related to other ministries, he pointed out that Hishammuddin’s ministry should have yearly budgets not just to purchase assets but also to take care of the salaries and other payments to armed forces personnel, including veterans.

“Why can’t Hishammuddin raise the issue in the Cabinet for a special allocation? Hundreds of millions of ringgit are siphoned off by acts of corruption and other financial misdeeds so what is so painful about raising money for the veterans?” he asked.

“Hishammuddin, by saying that the pension payment to the veterans also involves other ministries, was basically saying that he was not responsible for this issue and such an irresponsible attitude from a minister is not acceptable.

“He should just come out and say that the pension for the veterans is not possible – it’s not really necessary to pass the buck to other ministries.” – June 10, 2022