The chief executive of Malay/Muslim community self-help group Mendaki has come out to clarify that Indian-Muslims do receive help from the organisation, contrary to what several netizens had written on the group’s Facebok page.

Madam Moliah Hashim said in a note on the page on Monday that only two of the group’s many schemes are exclusively for Malays, and invited those concerned to a dialogue session with her.

Her note was prompted by a comment left on the page last Saturday by Mr Sameer Ab. Kadir, who wrote that his family had been routinely refused help by the organisation as their race was listed on official records as “Indian”. He said that the group should change its description to say it helped only the Malay community, to clarify the situation for Indian-Muslims like himself.

The comment sparked almost 800 comments which were overwhelmingly in agreement with him.

In her response, Madam Moliah noted that this issue of assistance to Indian-Muslims had surfaced several times before.

“I understand fully where the frustrations come from and wish I could reply to all of you personally,” she said.

She added that most of the group’s educational, family, youth and employability programmes are open to all eligible Muslims, but that two - the Special Malay Bursary and the Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy - were only for Malays.

She said that there was no reason why Indian-Muslims would have to be sent shuttling between Mendaki and the Indian self-help group Sinda, as both groups would help those who needed and deserved it. She added that Mendaki has worked with Sinda in the past after hearing of similar instances.

Read The Straits Times today for more.