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SUNGAI SIPUT: The concerns of the global Indian community in the wake of the street protest organised by the Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) will be allayed by the facts, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said yesterday.

He said during his working visits to foreign countries, including India, he was often asked about the conditions of the Indian community in Malaysia. "There are two things I take into consideration when I answer such questions. The first is to explain the requests and proposals of the Indians that were met by the government. "The second is to explain those demands that have been turned down or not met. I cannot bluff like them (Hindraf organisers) and say that the Indians did not get anything," he said.

Samy Vellu was asked how he planned to explain the concerns raised by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, through Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to The Hindu, Karunanidhi had written to Manmohan about the rally. He reportedly urged Manmohan to employ the necessary measures regarding the "suffering and bad treatment" of Tamils in Malaysia. Samy Vellu, however, was quick to say that Karunanidhi had not meant to interfere,  "He will never do such a thing. But when there are reports that 50,000 Tamils were smashed on the streets, then naturally anybody, anywhere, and not necessarily in India, will be aghast."

He said a day after the street rally, he was interviewed by a New Delhi-based television station in which he told the interviewer "not to be taken in by the protest". "This is what happens when someone starts to throw wild allegations. "Are the Indians in this country without clothes? Are they without jobs? Are they without food? I cannot bluff like them. I will tell only the truth," he said.

He lashed out at Hindraf for capitalising on the allegation that the government had indiscriminately torn down temples, saying that these people had never erected temples anywhere in the country. "They have never fought with the government to get land for the temples. Instead, they have been on a worldwide campaign that Malaysia is against Hinduism. "I, on the other hand, have acquired several plots of land from the chief ministers to build temples. I have received money from the government. Each year we get RM1 million to build temples and the money has been channelled for that purpose solely."

He also said the rally organisers had produced a CD and were distributing copies of it worldwide alleging that 35,000 temples had been demolished in the country. Rubbishing the allegation, he urged the Indians to go through newspapers of the last 20 years and to read for themselves the number of temples demolished. He reiterated that any temple in a development area would be shifted and compensation paid. "There are so many temples which were built illegally. For instance, along the double-tracking project between Ipoh and Rawang, 76 such temples were shifted and compensation paid. "Anyway, I have been working on temple matters even before he (Hindraf adviser P. Uthayakumar) was born," said Samy Vellu.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Selangor MIC welcomed the prime minister's "reassuring" stand on the Indian community. MIC deputy president and Selangor MIC chairman Datuk G. Palanivel said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's statement on Saturday showed how concerned he is with the situation. "Malaysian Indians are fully aware of his fair and just commitment to all," Palanivel said. "The MIC is aware of the people's grievances, but our approach is both realistic and rational." He denied claims by Hindraf that Indians were marginalised or subjected to "ethnic cleansing".

thanks to Nagarajan for highlighting this.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/071130/43/6nwie.html

The prime minister refused to comment any further as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was making a statement on the issue in parliament.

NEW DELHI, NOV 30 (PTI)

With ethnic Tamils under attack in Malaysia, the Government today told the Rajya Sabha that New Delhi was taking up the issue with Kuala Lumpur.

 

"The matter is being taken up through diplomatic channel," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri told the House during Zero Hour.

 

He was responding to the concerns of members who took strong exception to a senior Malaysian minister asking Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to "lay off" from the happenings in that country.

 

Terming as condemnable the ill-treatment being meted out to ethnic Tamils, Pachouri said that after the matter was taken up with the Malaysian authorities, the External Affairs Minister would make a statement in the House.

 

Raising the issue, R Shanmugasundaram (DMK) drew the attention of the Governnment to the statement of the Malaysian Minister on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. "This is highly condemnable as the Malaysian Minister has no business to talk like this. The Governnment of India should take appropriate action," he said.

 

S S Ahluwalia (BJP) demanded that the Malaysian envoy to India should be called to explain.

 

B S Gnanadesikan (Cong) expressed serious anguish over the manner in which the Chief Minister was snubbed by the Malaysian minister. He was joined by his party colleague V Narayanaswamy.

 

India lawmakers protest treatment of ethnic Indians in M'sia

 

The issue came up both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, India's lower and upper house of parliament, PTI and IANS news agencies reported.

 

The legislators expressed concern over the police treatment at a rally by Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority in Kuala Lumpur, demanding equal rights to jobs and education.

 

The protesting lawmakers were largely from India 's southern Tamil Nadu state and cut across party affiliation. Most of Malaysia's ethnic Indian people have origins in Tamil Nadu.

They demanded that the Indian government take up the issue with the Malaysian government and ensure protection of Indian ethnic minorities.

 

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee disapproved of the motions, and ordered some of the members' remarks expunged from the record.

 

"We are a very responsible democracy," he said. "We don't discuss any other country in such a manner."

 

But Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K.Rahman Khan said India 's external affairs minister would be informed of the sentiments of the lawmakers. - dpa