I have doubts about Penang Thaipusam collections
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II offers his six reasons why the donations by the Nagarather Chettiar Trustee of the Murugan temple leave much to be desired.
By P Ramasamy
It was after much public outcry, that the Nagarather Chettiar Trustees (NCT) of the Murugan temple on Waterfall Road, Penang, finally declared their Thaipusam collections amounting to RM 152,744.80 including jewellery from the donation boxes yesterday (FMT Feb 18, 2017).
Rather than appointing members of the public, they appointed an external audit firm to witness the counting of monies. They said that as usual they would submit their accounts to the relevant government agencies as required under the law.
This year they have donated RM25,000 to four charitable organizations in the presence of the Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, and the Minister of Health, Dr S Subramaniam on Thaipusam day.
While we welcome the NCT for declaring their Thaipusam collections, their declaration raises a number of questions.
First, the trustees did the actual counting of the monies without public participation except for the presence of an audit firm. Why was the public not allowed to be involved in the counting and why did the NCT not allow for the airing of the actual counting process, something like what was done by the Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) on Friday.
Secondly, this is the first time in its 159-year history that NCT have announced their donations to the public. They have kept quiet for more than 100 years and the very fact that they announced it this year is simply because of the adverse publicity from local Hindus in Penang and rest of the country.
Thirdly, we would be interested to know how much the NCT collected from the Silver chariot procession alone.
Why didn’t they differentiate the monies received from the chariot procession from those that they received in the temple donation boxes? If they had differentiated these amounts, then once the PHEB announces its collections, we could do simple arithmetic to ascertain how much they could have collected in the last 159 years, taking into account the value of the money, the rate of inflation and others.
But the NCT deliberately did not want to separate their donations, mainly because they want to downplay the monies that they received from the chariot procession.
Fourth, the NCT, by playing up their public donations of RM25,000 in the presence of the two VIPs, are trying to convince the public that their collections are put to good use, especially in terms of helping charitable organisations.
The entire Hindu community in Penang knows very well their donations to charitable organisations are miniscule in comparison with the monies they repatriate to India. Why give prominence to this small sum?
Fifth, the NCT has not denied the claim of the PHEB that five families from Tamil Nadu actually manage the temple, the chariot procession and the collections from the donation boxes. Apparently they think that it is not illegal for foreigners to collect money. Perhaps it is about time that police and the immigration authorities look into their assertion and whether it is legal for foreigners to come into the country, presumably on tourist visas, manage the Thaipusam collections and repatriate monies to India.
Sixth, while the NCT announced their donations, they have not made clear how the money will be spent. Are they going to apportion a substantial portion for the educational needs of Hindu students in Penang? Or they going to use the money collected for the improvement and welfare of the Chettiar community in Penang and Karaikudi?
The Thaipusam donations by the NCT leave much to be desired. Yes, they were under tremendous pressure to announce their collections, but the actual counting process and what was announced raises more questions than answers.
P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.