Archive for January, 2008

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IPF Bersatu, yet another Indian party

January 26th, 2008
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Proof that Indians can’t be united at the top, I guess. MIC, MIC Baru, IPF, MIUP, and now IPF Bersatu. It’s not enough for those on top to ask the community to be ‘united” all the time. I think its time for the people to voice their dissatisfaction and anger to these so called champions of the community.

Split in IPF, rival party emerges

By : Suganthi Suparmaniam

source
KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian Progressive Front (IPF), the non-Barisan Nasional party that has been loyal to the ruling coalition for the past decade, is now split.

One faction is led by ailing president Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan and the other by former secretary-general K. Panjamurti.

Panjamurti, who is the president of the newly-formed IPF Bersatu, said voters need not worry as their support would always be for the BN.  We have our own identity as IPF Bersatu and under my leadership, we have state, division and branch leaders. The supporters behind me will campaign for BN. We are going around the country in favour of the government.”

On the split, Panjamurti said it was inevitable as some party members and veterans were unhappy with Pandithan’s leadership and had also complained of mismanagement of party funds.

The last straw came with talks of dissolving the IPF and the possibility of a merger with the Malaysian Indian Cong-ress (MIC) last year.

He added that IPF Bersatu was not registered as he feared getting into a legal battle could spoil votes for BN. He said his faction would campaign for BN with former MIC deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam and People’s Progressive Party president Datuk M. Kayveas.

IPF deputy president V. Senggutuan, however, brushed aside Panjamurti’s allegations.  Who are they? They are nobody to us. All the state, division and branch leaders are with us. We don’t recognise IPF Bersatu,” he said. He added that IPF had been having meetings with Indian voters in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Perak.

In response to the recent patch-up between Pandithan and MIC chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, Senggutuan said it was just a misunderstanding and not a generation-old feud. The “misunderstanding”arose in 1988 when Pandithan was sacked for holding a hunger strike in front of the MIC headquarters.

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55,000 Indians benefited from PTPTN

January 26th, 2008
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Ong: 55,000 Indians benefited from PTPTN

source

MORE than 50,000 Indian students have benefited from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), Malaysia Nanban reported.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Ministry Datuk Ong Tee Kiat said 55,055 Indian students have borrowed from the fund.

He said that the amount given to the Indian students represented 6.4% of total loans given.

He added that the Hope Foundation was established last January to help students who had failed to gain places in government universities by getting them places in, and funds for, private universities.

Ong said the foundation had made arrangements with 11 private universities to provide places for such students. The students were allowed to choose the university and degree.

He said that last year about 280 students managed to get places through the foundation, of which 17 were Indian students.

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temple and mosque side by side

January 25th, 2008
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A mosque and temple stand side by side in harmony

By : K.Harinderan
source
KUALA LUMPUR: Religious harmony is more than a catchy phrase at Lorong Raja Muda Abdul Aziz here.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the city, Muslims and Hindu’s have been worshiping just metres from each other over the past 40 years in Kampung Baru.

An air of calm prevailes at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital Mosque and Sri Maha Kaliamman Temple with members of both religious communities respecting their right to religious expression. While the mosque began as a surau in the 1950’s, the temple started off as a shrine in a simple wooden structure in 1968.

It was built by Kannan alias Veerapan in gratitude to Goddess Kaliamman for healing his then 16-year-old daughter.

V. Rajeswary, who had been falling ill often and could not be treated, recovered after going into a trance on several occasions. The shrine soon grew into a proper temple with devotees comprising hospital staff and occupants of railway quarters in Sentul.

Rajeswary’s husband, V. Narayanasamy, 68, who runs the temple, told the New Straits Times that the temple and mosque had shared the same grounds without major problems that could not be resolved.

“Cooperation, freedom and mutual respect has been shown by Hindu’s and Muslims alike and we have lived in harmony and even helped each other during festivals.’

A senior Kuala Lumpur Hospital Mosque official, who declined to be identified, said only zinc sheets separated the two structures.

“What began as a surau in the late 1950s has flourished together with the temple over the years. “Prayers at the temple do not bother us when we conduct our prayers. We have made certain adjustments to accommodate the temples’ wishes,” he said, adding that there had been no problems between the two parties.

The past four decades had seen “one or two” difficult moments such as during the May 13, 1969, riots when an Alliance flag was set on fire and thrown toward the main altar of the temple. The wooden structure was razed but the shrine survived the fire.

In 1979, floods which hit the city destroyed both structures.

P.Vasudevan, 53, who was born in Kampung Baru and frequents the temple, said the religious institutions were a unique testament to unity in diversity. “People of both faiths perform prayers side by side without problems.”

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SJKT Tun Sambanthan PIBG suspended

January 25th, 2008
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Teachers, parents running in fear of PIBG head

http://malaysiakini.com/news/77437
K Kabilan | Jan 25, 08 3:17pm
A MIC branch leader with strong links to the party leadership has been accused of using his position as the head of the Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) to create a culture of fear in an elite Tamil school in Subang Jaya.

Parents and teachers at the SRJK (T) Tun Sambanthan in USJ15 – the first Tamil smart school – are complaining that the man, S Murali, is using his PIBG position to strengthen his political base, a charge denied by the businessman.

To date, the teachers alone have lodged nine police reports on Murali’s various acts, including instances of issuing threats, harassment and violent conduct.

Parents also lodged three separate reports and they had sought the intervention of the Education Ministry, state education department, district education office and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

“However, we have not heard anything from any of them. He is still ‘ruling’ the school, in disregard of the school headmaster and teachers and by ignoring the wishes of the parents,” a parent complained to Malaysiakini today.

The latest police report against Murali was lodged by a teacher in the school on Jan 14, claiming that the PIBG chairperson has issued a death threat to her. She had previously lodged another report on Jan 26, 2006 stating that she was worried of her safety after being threatened by Murali.

“All the teachers are in fear of him. He would just enter a classroom and start questioning the teachers on unrelated matters,” said KS Selva, whose two children are studying in the school.

Selva added that complaints made by the teachers to their headmaster too had fallen on deaf ears. In fact, he added, a headmaster and two senior assistants have been transferred out following their continuous complaints against Murali.

“Murali openly claims that he has the right connection in the ministry and the MIC. He uses this school as a place for him to build his political base,” added another parent A Chandramohan.

Bad for students, school

Chandramohan said the school has a bright future but now risk being an average school due to the high-handed attitude of Murali.

“If this continues, more teachers will leave the school. Parents too are going to take their children out. He has to be stopped,” added Chandramohan who has two daughters studying in the school.

Another parent, P Vijayakumar said that he had transferred his daughter out of the school after seeing Murali’s destructive role in the PIBG.

“He is not helping the school at all. He is a politician who wants to control the school. He wants to show that he is actually running the school and in doing so, he is destroying this educational institution,” he added.

“As PIBG chairperson, Murali has no right to interfere in the administration of the school. He has no right to question or scold the teachers. He should just be helping the school in non-administrative matters,” said Vijayakumar.

Murali has been the PIBG chairperson since 2004 and in the past four years, complaints of various nature have been made against him – ranging from harassment to abuse of PIBG funds, according to several other parents who spoke to Malaysiakini.

The parents are at their tether’s end on how to ensure that their children could study in a more conducive environment.

“The students are directly seeing Murali’s robust actions on a regular basis. They see their teachers being warned and threatened. They are scared and this is affecting their studies,” said Vijayakumar.

“On the other hand, teachers are also getting fed up with Murali’s actions. If this continues, they might just seek a transfer. The school and students will end up losers,” he said.

The parents recently submitted a memorandum to Suhakam, asking the rights body to intervene in ensuring that their rights are protected.

They are also disappointed that the Education Ministry has not acted on their numerous complaints.

“We were told that he has the support of some top level MIC leaders who continue to back him,” added another parent.

PIBG suspended

Meanwhile Malaysiakini learnt that the ministry has suspended the PIBG with immediate effect.

When contacted Murali said that he received a letter from the ministry today.

“How can they suspend the PIBG without giving any reasons?” he asked,

He also denied all the allegations made against him, saying that these allegations were made by parents who had lost to him in the previous PIBG elections.

“They have influenced the teachers to go against me and all these are the doings of this small group of parents,” he said.

He added that he has also lodged a police report against a teacher for falsely accusing him of threatening her.

The suspension of the PIBG would mean that the election slated to take place this Sunday would have to be postponed until further notice.

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senile paralytic mumble causes conversion

January 25th, 2008
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Hmmm…now I’m worried that if I mumble in my sleep or meditating anywhere, i’ll be converted! 🙂 Oh oh…wWhat about those guys talking on their handphones via bluetooth? From far they may look like mumbling some conversion mantra. The Mat Skodeng (snooping pervert) body snatchers may just mark them for collection later.

Anyway, a few more votes for BN down the drain. Now if the family has 20 family close relatives, and each has another 2 adults…hmmm…how many votes gone ah?

Man buried as Muslim amid conversion row

Jan 25, 08 4:53pm

source

An elderly ethnic Chinese man has been buried as a Muslim after his Buddhist family lost a battle with the Islamic authorities who said he had converted, his son said today.

Police seized the body of Gan Eng For, who died on Sunday aged 74, after his oldest son – himself a Muslim convert – said he had switched to the religion last year.

Other family members said Gan could not have converted because he was senile and paralysed after suffering two strokes. “He could not even move his arms or talk,” his other son 42-year-old Gan Hock Sin told AFP.

“It is shocking that Islamic authorities say he recited some Islamic words when he was being converted last year,” he said.

The dispute, the latest in a series of conversion rows in Malaysia, came shortly after a court ordered a Christian woman’s body be returned to her family after Islamic authorities admitted she had not converted. The cases have fed accusations over the growing “Islamisation” of Malaysia, where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays living alongside ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.

Gan criticised the conduct of the state Islamic authorities who buried his father in a Muslim cemetery yesterday on the orders of a religious court. “They have been cruel to my mother and my family. We could not see his body before he was buried. This government is not fair,” he said. “Before my father died, he had told my mother that he wished to be buried according to Chinese rituals.”

Muslim burial for elderly convert after court ruling

source

SEREMBAN: Amir Gan Abdullah, 74, who died last Sunday, and whose Muslim and non-Muslim children laid claim to his body, was buried yesterday as a Muslim after the Syariah High Court ruled yesterday that he was a Muslim convert.

His eldest son, Abdul Rahman Gan, 47, claimed the body from the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital. Amir Gan was buried at the Tuan Haji Said Muslim cemetery about 6.30pm.

Syariah judge Mohd Nadzri Abdul Rahman gave his decision after hearing an ex parte application seeking to declare Amir Gan a Muslim. The application was filed by the Negri Sembilan Islamic Affairs Council, the Negri Sembilan Islamic Affairs Department, the Registrar of Converts and the plaintiff, Abdul Rahman.

The non-Muslim members of Amir Gan’s family did not turn up in court although a notice had been sent to them on Tuesday.

According to the facts of the case, Gan Eng Gor had embraced Islam on July 3 last year at his house in Taman Mega Way, Sikamat, near here and took the name of Amir Gan Abdullah.

The non-Muslim members of Amir Gan’s family had failed in their attempt to obtain an injunction to defer hearing of the application in the Syariah Court. — Bernama

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