My letter to Tan Sri Muhyiddin referred to the following facts and queries:
In April 1996, Indradevy a/p Murugesu applied for a RM50,000 loan from the Youth Economic Trust Fund on April 1996 for a jewellery business and the application was submitted to the Federal Territory Youth and Sports Department.
On the advice of the Department, Indradevy even attended a two-week entrepreneurial course at the Institut Keusahawanaan Belia Negara Ipoh from 10th to 22nd June 1996, and was given a certificate Kursus Pembangunan Usaha.
By letter dated 11th July 1996, Indradevy was informed by Pengarah FT Jabatan Belia & Sukan, B. Sasrjit Singh that the Federal Territory State Youth Economic Trust Fund Committee at its meeting on July 2, 1996 supported her application.
However, in a letter dated 28th August 96, she was informed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports that her application had been rejected without any reason being given.
Indradevy sent an appeal to the Minister for Youth and Sports, Tan Sri Muhyidin Muhamad Yassin on 16.11.1996.
When she received telephone calls threatening her to withdraw the application, she reported to the FT Pengarah.
On 21st Jan. 1997, after fruitless inquiries, she sent a reminder to Minister for Youth on her appeal.
In February 1997, she contacted Jabatan Belia Sukan Wilayah Persekutuahn and was advised to re-submit a new application which she complied. In early June 1997, she phoned up the Jabatan Belia Sukan WP and was told there was no news yet about her application. The next day, she received a letter dated 6th June 97 rejecting her application on the ground �premise perniagaan tidak sesuai� and � tidak memenuhi syarat perkongsian�.
She also received another letter dated 11th June 1997 from the Personal Secretary to the Minister for Youth informing her of the rejection of the appeal.
Indradevy is most aggrieved of getting a very raw deal from the Ministry of Youth, as she had complied with all the advice of the Ministry officials for her RM50,000 loan, and was made to run around in circles for more than a year.
What is worse, she was privately told that the Youth Economic Trust Fund is reserved for bumiputeras only. The Youth Minister should state publicly whether this is the case, and if so, why it had not been announced publicly so that it would not waste the time and resources of non-bumiputeras.
If the Youth Economic Trust Fund is not reserved for bumiputeras only, then the Youth Minister should explain the rejection of Indradevy�s application, when she even went to take up the two-week young entrepreneurs course at the Youth Entrepreneurs Institute in Ipoh following the submission of her loan application.
Furthermore, the Youth Minister should explain how many youths and the value of these loans under the Youth Economic Trust Fund which had been given , providing a breakdown of the number of bumiputera and non-bumiputeras who had not benefitted.
The Seventh Malaysia Plan said that soft loans totalling RM16.7 million had been disbursed under the Youth Economic Trust Fund to 1,600 youths during the Sixth Malaysia Plan from 19691-95, and that under the Seventh Malaysia Plan, more funds would be disbursed.
(25/6/97)