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I got to know that Deputy Minister in PM’s Dept, Murugiah was at the school yesterday along with angry and unhappy parents. Never heard anything from the sole guardian of the Indian community our beloved Samy Vellu. Maybe he has more pressing concerns involving RM70 million.

As expected, the teacher (I have got the name and photo, but unauthenticated) has “apologised” and Murugiah says the teacher will be transferred. He said disciplinary action will be recommended, but I think after a week it will be all quiet.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah accompanied by few of his Public Complaints Bureau staff, who visited SMK Telok Panglima Garang yesterday,said the teacher regretted the incident and had apologised to the students. He said the issue was now considered closed and advised members of the Indian community
as well as parents of the affected students to accept the teacher’s apology.

She also said that she did not expect things to become so serious and has agreed to be transferred to another school.

It is still unknown if his head was working well when he was at the school. This is because the community is fuming and this deputy minister tries to sweep the mess under the carpet.

The Star reports that relatives of the affected students as well as the members of the Telok Panglima Garang Indian community refused to regard the matter as closed.

“She must make a public apology as she insulted all Indians and be transferred to a desk job and not
allowed to teach anymore,” said the group’s spokesman S. Muthamil Selvan.

Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George concurred and said his organisation was preparing a memorandum on the matter to be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

As I mentioned earlier, legal action must be taken. We can’t trust the discplinary action nor the teacher’s apology. So far, no lawyer had come forward yet. Let’s see if there are only cowards in these political parties. If the parents want to go ahead, I’m confident that many people will contribute financially to support their legal action. Let this be a warning to all those who serve to “disrupt national unity and harmony” - as our ministers so fondly like to say. Or does it apply to certain groups only?

If you check the school’s website, under sesi pagi, there are 3 Indian teachers listed (Cik Vijayavaney A/P W.V. Richard, Pn Gunadevi A/P Rajadurai, En Nadarajan A/L Thambu). Nadarajan teaches Moral, so perhaps he can give his views. Hopefully all of them will give some comments. Btw, the violent racist teacher’s name is also there I believe.

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I managed to hear about 20 minutes of the recorded interview of Senator T.Murugiah (PPP) who is a Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s Department. It was between 2 and 3pm on Minnal FM.

His interview was very candid and off the cuff. I’ve can’t remember other previous interviewees in the slot (like Saravanan and S.Subramaniam) talking like that.

Among the things he said:

1. He managed to settle SJKT Ladang Kulai Besar’s land title issue in just 6 days. The PIBG chairman called to thank him. It was dangling without solution for last 10 years.

2. He is in-charge of 5 departments under Prime Minister’s Department. Among them is the Biro Pengaduan Awam (Public Complaints Bureau) or BPA. He said all problems will receive personal attention from him. He urged Indians to put forth their complaints on about any public service problems to the agency. He said so far, after a publicity to the Indian community, most complaints that came in are on Tamil schools. He said PM personally told him to improve the BPA. BPA is at http://www.bpa.gov.my and the public can contact them via telephone, letter, fax, and email.

3. He said not many Indian applicants for government jobs. He asked all candidates to forward a copy to him personally (to his office) so that he can track the application with SPA. He said many candidates don’t turn up for interview or are unprepared. He is planning to create a briefing team to help candidates to prepare for interview.

4. He touched on Tamil School Foundation initiative that he started. He said we should be more like the Chinese community who are using funds to support their schools. He said that if one person contributed RM10, it will be in millions since there are more than a million Indians. The money can be used for extra classes, study trips for students, seminars, and even support those who have financial problem via scholarships. He said Tamil schools are the soul of the community and it is very important to maintain the schools. He said more people should send their children to Tamil schools.

5. He said he is not after name and fame. Those who cheat others and live on others suffering won’t be happy. He said he don’t even own a house after being taken away from him (not sure what that means).

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About three weeks back, Murugiah talked on creating a foundation called Tamil Schools Foundation. Now he talks about setting up a fund. What I don’t understand is why need to meet Prime Minister and Education Minister if money for the fund is to be sourced from donations from public and corporate figures.

Secondly, along with proposing such funds, PPP should also focus on getting schools to be fully-aided and try not to burden the community by asking for more money.

Not only independent committee, but a transparent-based set-up - from collection to disbursement. Nowadays, nothing seemed to be independent.

BTW, will Samy allow this or continue with his “sole champion of the community” mantra?

IPOH: The People’s Progressive Party is proposing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that a fund for Tamil schools be set up. It suggests seeking donations from corporate figures and the Indian community.Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Senator T. Murugiah, who is the PPP National Youth chief, said the fund would help schools in poor condition and lacking facilities. “The fund will finance the construction of facilities in such schools, which are suffering a drop in enrolment. The lack of facilities is one reason parents refuse to send their children there.”

Murugiah said the fund would be managed by an independent committee with similar committees formed at the state level to disburse aid.
“There is no political motive for setting up the fund. Our goal is to make Tamil schools conducive for teaching and learning, whether or not the schools are located in opposition-held states.”

source

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