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I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Vel Paari is the advisor for MIC Youth. According to him, he has been the advisor since 2004. Well, good for MIC Youth. I’m sure they have strong and valid reason for the appointment. Anyway, what’s the role of MIC Youth Advisory Council headed by Ramis? Maybe they should other advisors as well - those that have some sort of academic and social standing, with more experience.

Now, for the proposal by MIC Youth. Good idea indeed. This will enhance the link between Tamil Nadu and MIC especially. Even though the current focus would be Sri Lanka situation, in the long term it can encompass all areas of cooperation among members. I’m not sure if any such groups exist solely for Tamils.

The MIC Youth has proposed the setting up of a Tamil League in a move to attract international attention to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Adviser S. Vell Paari said the league should be a United Nations-recognised body, similar to the Organisa- tion of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

“I believe a new league of Tamils representing their resident country should be established in Tamil Nadu to diligently and vigilantly guard over the political, economic and social agenda of Tamils living all over the world,” he said in a statement.

Vell Paari said the Tamil League should have a similar framework and diplomatic status like that of the UN and each Tamil representative from member countries should be given an ambassadorship entitling them to diplomatic immunity.

“I say this to sanction a valid representation from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who can also sit within this Tamil League to voice its concerns and grievances without the fear of being detained,” he said.

Vell Paari said the Tamil League can set up a committee to discuss and negotiate with the Sri Lankan Government for a peaceful solution.

For details, please e-mail Vell Paari at tamilleague@gmail.com.

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After being snubbed by Sri Lanka embassy in the first round, MIC Youth wised up and got its coalition partners to join in the next protest which was held today evening. UMNO sent about 300 members, while representatives from Gerakan, MCA, PPP, IPF, Makkal Sakthi, and other NGOs attended as well.  I, for one, never thought the other BN partners will join in MIC protests. For that, I must say well done to MIC Youth. I really can’t remember MIC Youth ever leading any protest with other coalition members before this, so this is an achievement.

Hmm…not sure about DAP, PAS, and PKR members. Never get invitation?

However, I was surprised to see the police not doing anything to disperse the crowd. Borrowing the Selangor CPO, Deputy Home Minister and others of the same ilk’s words - What if some “bad elements” made use of the crowd to cause disturbance? The police should take preemptive action before something bad happens

Permit? I think we better not venture into that area.

More surprising is the orange color t-shirts worn at the protest. Orange at the moment symbolises HINDRAF. But it seems MIC members (Youth or Putera?) also use the same color for some time now. At the very least, police should have taken in all those wearing orange into questioning and ask them things like : Why you wear orange, which group wears orange, were you at deepavali open house, are you member of hindraf, who is your leader, why he is not here, why you are here, and 1001 other questions.

MIC also takes a leaf out of HINDRAF’s strategy by including children in their protest. But since its just a day before school holidays start, I guess its OK to bring the kids for some sort of outing.

Oh ya, I’m not belittling the protest nor the war in Sri Lanka. I’m very curious on why the police never do anything.

All in all, good effort by MIC Youth. Hope we see more protests in the future.

Pool of Orange!

Hundreds of MIC Youth members, party supporters and NGO representatives were bussed in from all over the country for the protest.

This time they were joined by about 200 Putera Umno members led by Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim. There were also small representations from the youth wings of Gerakan, PPP and MCA.

Last Friday MIC Youth had similar but smaller demonstration at the same site.

At about 3pm, the crowd armed with placards and banners marched some 100 metres towards the Sri Lankan embassy and gathered there for about 30 minutes.

At that point the crowd had swollen to about 1,000 people, including children.

They chanted slogans such as “Don’t kill the innocent”, “No war” and “Stop the killings” in Tamil. The protestors also donned black arm bands to show they were mourning for the dead civilians in the conflict.

Memorandum handed

By about 4pm, protest representatives handed a memorandum to Sri Lankan embassy officials - as representatives of BN Youth demanding the Sri Lankan government to cease their military aggression.

The Sri Lankan government was also urged to allow international aid organisations into the affected areas and resume negotiations with combatants.

Speaking to reporters later, chief organiser of the protest and MIC Youth deputy chief S Murugesan told reporters that the protestors represented a cross-section of Malaysians who are opposed to the violence in Sri Lanka

Abdul Azeez (left) said that Umno Youth and youth wings of other Barisan component parties had joined the MIC Youth initiated demonstration on the basis of friendship.

“We give full support to this action initiated by MIC Youth especially in opposing the use of violence against civilians and the bombings of hospitals and schools,” he said.

He said that the protest was not meant to be a political action, but it should be seen as a humanitarian appeal for the Sri Lankan government to end military violence.

The event was closely watched by 50 police personnel who did not intervene except to halt the protestors 50 metres from the embassy.

Asked if a police permit had been obtained for the protest, Murugesan did not give a direct answer.

“We have applied for it… We were told in that in principle, they (the police) have agreed,” he said.

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Hmm…what a pity. Foreigners also don’t give much respect to MIC. As I mentioned earlier, MIC Youth planned to organise a protest, and they actually did. It was over the killing of Sri Lankan Tamils by the national army.

As reported by Malaysiakini:

MIC Youth wing and several non-governmental organisations this morning staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the Sri Lankan High Commission in Jalan Damai, off Jalan Ampang against the civil war in that island.

More than 200 people protested against the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing continued air and ground attacks against Sri Lankan Tamils.

They said that these attacks resulted in innocent men, women and children being killed and maimed.

The demonstration was led by MIC Youth deputy coordinator S Murugesan and MIC Youth advisory council chairman S Ramis. MIC Youth coordinator T Mohan and S Vell Paari were present to give their moral support.

Protestors wore black armbands while some carried placards depicting the pictures of the affected women, children and damaged houses.

The protesting entourage however did not submit a protest note to the high commission after their officials insisted on only allowing MIC Youth officials to present it.

Murugesan said that it was unacceptable as MIC Youth had already informed the high commission that they were coming together with the NGOs to hand over the memorandum.

“It seems that the high commission wants to divide the MIC Youth and the NGOs. Their condition is unacceptable,” he told reporters.

Murugesan also said that they would initiate a campaign to urge Malaysians to boycott Sri Lanka products as well as the Sri Lanka Airlines.

“We would be having another demonstration with a much bigger crowd in the near future. We will show our strength,” he said.

The protest started at about 10.30am and ended by 12.45 pm without any untoward incident.

Obviously, people will question why MIC Youth is being busybody in other people’s affairs, when there’s so much problem in our community that needs urgent solution. Those 200 people could have gathered at PM’s office, palace, DBKL, Education Ministry, Kamunting, or any other organisations/agencies that discriminated against local Indians. Why not? Well, one must be crazy to against their fellow partners, I guess. Sri Lankan embassy is OK because they really don’t affect MIC. They also protested at Selangor MB’s office (again, an entity that won’t affect them because the are the opposition) regarding temple demolition issue.

For those interested, photos of the protest is at :
http://pemudamic.org/index.php?ind=gallery&op=section_view&idev=15

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