Penang MIC Youth Chief expose Penang Hindu Endowment Board lies

DAP's Ramasamy is the Chairman of PHEB

NOTE : PENANG MIC YOUTH CHIEF STATEMENT IS IN BOLD. 

*It seems that the management of our Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) and Professor P. Ramasamy is trying very hard to win the hearts and minds of the Indian community in Penang after the backlash that they have received for disrupting this year Thaipusam celebration with their Golden Chariot procession. 




Recently they had release an article “praising” themselves of being “very good” in managing the board. What is more surprising is that this article was posted in Penang DAP Facebook page. Let’s start off with replying to each false statement made PHEB*.

*_No 1:_*

In this auspicious month of Thai, we want to honour the Hindu community in Penang. Here's an article about the Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB). Share it with your friends. :)

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When Pakatan Rakyat took power in Penang in 2008, they inherited an underperforming Hindu Endowment Board (HEB) that was generating a mere RM3,000 a month in income despite owning property worth millions.

*Thank you to the current PHEB management for acknowledging that the previous management had successfully acquired and owned property worth millions of dollars. This goes to show the success of the previous committee and its seriousness to build PHEB. 

Nobody was sleeping on the job as alleged by Professor P. Ramasamy and his gang. If not there will not be property worth millions of ringgit to begin with*

*_No 2:_*

According to executive director Ramachandran M. Muthiah, many issues plagued the previous iteration of the HEB, from bad rent collection to a lack of upgrading works in existing properties. Records were not properly kept. Gold bars worth RM300,000 went missing. “They did not even have a manager to manage the properties,” he says. “It was all stagnant.”

*False, rent was collected on time. In order to assist the Indian community and Malaysians at large, PHEB at that time acted as a charitable organization and not a profit based organization as what PHEB is today. That is why rent was kept at a minimal to assist all the tenants irrespective of race or religion whom were using PHEB’s property at that time. It is not the intention of PHEB to burden the tenants with high rest just so that PHEB can claim to earn thousands of ringgit a month. The loss of the gold bars happened post – 2008 when a new committee took over the management of the board. 

Therefore they have to be responsible for the loss of the gold bars and not the previous management. The police have conducted their investigation and the result has still not been released. The culprit who stole the bars must be prosecuted*

*_No 3:_*

Upon becoming chairman of the board, Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy was determined to save the board. He ordered a systematic study and valuation of all HEB properties and subsequently raised rents, this time making sure that the HEB collected them as well. Previously, the HEB had received RM50,000 a year from the state government in funding; Ramasamy managed to increase that to more than a million a year. Income generated from property has gone up to RM90,000 a month, with property worth about RM600mil.

*As I mentioned earlier, previously rent was kept at a minimum to assist the tenants irrespective of race or religion as not to burden them with increasing the rent on PHEB owned properties. PHEB at that time acted as a charitable organization. 

Now under Professor P. Ramasamy they have increased the rent and of course when you increase the rent, PHEB revenue will increase but the people who are renting PHEB properties are suffering. PHEB is now no different than any other company which is only interested in making money and profits out of our religion*

*_No 4:_*

When Ramasamy first took over the HEB, he understood its potential beyond simply managing property. The HEB has made education a top priority, giving financial aid to students in need. In 2008, the HEB’s total education aid for the year was a mere RM2,125 but that figure grew very quickly as the HEB’s finances improved; in 2015, the HEB gave RM537,348 in education aid to 280 students. The HEB has also sponsored students to take up training at the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC), and provides some medical aid.

*Talking about assisting the community. This is what PHEB has been doing all this while, not only since Professor P. Ramasamy took over. The difference is at that time the assistance was on a broader spectrum not only to a selected few. Ramachandran talk about the assistance PHEB had given to 280 students but this money is coming from rental revenue from PHEB assets and also donation from the Indian community and NOT from the state government. It seems that the DAP led state government has now sub-contracted the well-being of the Indian community in Penang to PHEB by using PHEB's money and donation from our very own community. 

The DAP led state government better find other resources to get money and assist the Indian community in Penang and not use PHEB's money. If they are not willing to support the Indian community, in the coming GE we better not vote for DAP anymore.*  

*In addition, PHEB has now spent nearly RM 3,000,000 on their Golden Chariot which was not required in the first place. This money could have been better used to assist the Indian community and also could have been used for investment by PHEB to increase revenue rather than increasing the rentals on their property which in the end burden the people.* 

*_Pirakash Marimuthu_*

*_Penang MIC State Youth Leader_*