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HINDRAF upset with treatment at open house

October 4th, 2008
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I covered the media reports on HINDRAF at Hari Raya open house earlier. We can see how Utusan being the culprit, tries to stir the emotions by its choice of words and misleading statements.Today, Hindraf’s coordinator Thanenthiran announced that its members won’t be attending the Raya open house in Kepala Batas due to ” negative reports about their presence at Abdullah’s open house at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) on Oct 1.” He said 3,000 Hindraf supporter were expected, but will be informed not to attend.

HINDRAF was dissappointed that its trip to the open house was distorted by politicians when in fact, it had received approval from PM’s Department:

Its national co-ordinator R.S. Thanenthiran said Hindraf had sent an official letter to Abdullah’s office on Sept 22, stating that it members wanted to greet the Prime Minister and personally ask him to release all Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees during his open house.

“The Prime Minister’s senior personal assistant Datuk Ahmad Yaakob accepted our letter and told us that everyone was welcome at Abdullah’s open house.

“We told Ahmad Yaakob that apart from relaying Hari Raya greetings to the Prime Minister, we also wanted to personally ask Abdullah to release all ISA detainees,” he told a press conference here on Friday.

Thanenthiran said Hindraf members went to the open house to “mohon maaf, zahir dan batin” (seek forgiveness) from the Abdullah, and not to be disrespectful by creating a ruckus, as alleged by certain quarters.

He said it was not true that Hindraf sympathisers had jumped queue, noting that they patiently waited for about two hours to meet Abdullah.

He also said no memorandum was presented to Abdullah. Instead he was given a greeting card, flowers and a soft toy.

“We have always reminded our sympathisers to be patient and law-abiding citizens.

“But, we are disappointed with certain quarters who have given the impression that we are violent and provocative,” he said.

He was also quoted in Malaysiakini saying:

“Hari Raya Aidilfitri is a time to forgive and forget. Anybody can go (to the open house) regardless of what shirt we wear. We were not at all unruly,” said Thanenthiran.

According to the same Malaysiakini report:

Upon arriving at the PM’s open house, the Hindraf activists, all clad in their uniform orange T-shirts, were held back from the public
queue and led to a different dining hall to deter them from meeting the premier.

However a small group led by K Shanthi, wife of Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy, later ‘escaped’ and entered the correct entrance via the VIP entrance and managed to meet the prime minister.

“It came as a surprise to me. Foreigners are allowed to meet the prime minister but Malaysian citizens are not,” Shanthi told Malaysiakini.

She said police had also ordered her to change her T-shirt or otherwise face arrest but she refused.

Shanti said they had attempted to meet with the premier many times at the Prime Minister’s Department but failed and the Hari Raya open house promised them the only opportunity to come face-to-face with the premier.

“I asked him (Abdullah Badawi) why weren’t we allowed to meet with him but he replied saying that everyone can meet him,” she
revealed.

Below is an email from its Coordination Team Member:

Dear Prime Minister sir, why you did that to us?

There was never once we came without informing.
Every our visit to meet you Mr. Prime Minister, has been informed either thru an open letter or a personal letter to you. Your senior officers are well informed of our planned visits, be it in Putra Jaya, Parliament or in the latest development in PWTC on your Hari Raya Open House.

Malaysia’s (probably the world’s) youngest human right activist VWaishnnavi ( 6years old) approached your senior officer in Putra Jaya on 22nd September 2008 and informed him in writing that she will be attending the Hari Raya Open House function planned to be held at PWTC with some 10,000 Hindraf supporters .In return Mr. Prime Minister sir, your secretary thanked the delegation and assured us that this would not have the objections of the PM and the PM would be glad to welcome visitors to his open house.

Adding on to this, your press statement dated 29th September 2008 published by unit Komunikasi Pejabat Perdana Menteri , PUTRAJAYA, extended an open invitation to ALL the rakyat of Malaysia to attend the Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House that to be held in Dewan Tun Razak of the 4th floor at PWTC on the 1st Syawal 1429, between 12.30 and 4.30pm.

What else needed for a Malaysian citizen who upholds the principles of Rukun Negara to accept and attend your Hari Raya Open House function?

So we came Mr. Prime Minister . We came with hopes and love. We came as citizens of Malaysia to wish our Prime Minister “Selamat Hari Raya” and in return instead of ‘Ang Pows’ we want to request for freedom of our innocent Hindraf heroes from the unlawful Barbaric and draconian ISA detention . What could be wrong in that sir? Instead what happened to us?

Why did you humiliated us ?
Why did you stopped us at the entrance of the PWTC ?
Why did you embarrassed us in the eyes of our fellow Malaysian brothers??
Why did you treated us as criminals ???
Why did you performed body search as if we were there to harm you????

Why Mr. Prime Minister ??? Why?…Why??…Why..????

Was that because we are poor Indians?
Was that because we are weak Indians?
Was that because we in your opinion untouchables?? !!

Why Mr. Prime Minister ? Why? Why you did that to us ??

Was that you or was it those around you in the name of advisors did all this?

We were consistently provoked ever since we stepped into the PWTC premises. You yourself saw how the hand made Hari Raya card by a six years old kid was torn by your officials . Imagine the time and the effort of that poor girl to get the card done. Imagine how she would have dreamt to pass it to you on your Open House. That wasn’t a petition or a memo. A simple hand made Hari Raya Wishing card !!! And dozens of police officers stormed in an attempt to confiscate and tear it of.

What? Is this necessary at all for a wishing card?

Mr. Prime Minister sir , we all know those were meant to provoke us and in return expecting us to retaliate , but we will never get provoked because Hindraf believes in Ahimsa and that is exactly how we are going to be in rest of our struggle.
Even then the Main stream medias under your control has blamed and accused us for unruly behavior and as trouble makers and said Hindraf supporters never respected the Hari Raya . God knows the truth and you too should attempt to seek for one.

Only if we were treated like citizens and were let to see you as the rest , our presence most probably would have went unnoticed. Too bad your advisors had decided otherwise.

One may ask why we chose the Open House, our answer , Prime Minister has avoided all our calls to meet him else where . We have no other choice but to accept his invitation to his open house, look into his eyes and tell him what we have to. That’s all.

Finally when we shook your hands Mr. Prime Minister didn’t you actually felt Hindraf guys are after all not that bad as been described to you all these while?

Indeed that is the truth sir. Our Hindraf leaders are innocent. Release them from ISA.
Our demands are basic needs of a poor community , fulfill them. Hindraf is done then.

Wake up sir, realize the truth and execute your power as Prime Minister to all..
Otherwise Hindraf never decided to stop.

Hindraf wishes you “ Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri , maaf zahir batin.

Vaazhge Hindraf…!!!

Sambulingam Wisvalingam
Hindraf National Coordination Team
2nd October 2008.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu is worried that HINDRAF’s action will derail his plans to get the leaders released. He claims that the group acted as if they did not want the ISA detainees to be released because those in the group have ulterior motives.

“The MIC has taken several actions (to secure their release) but what the sympathisers did would jeopardise them,” he said Friday.

He was quoted in NST as saying:

“Actually, there are leaders who will be pressured if the detainees are released. Their aspirations to be respected leaders will be buried.

“I want all Indians who are in Hindraf to stop listening to these leaders’ insults and slander and leave the group.

On whether he was calling for the sympathisers to stop their actions, Samy Vellu said:

“I don’t want to advise them on what they should do. They can continue to beat their drums but their drums will not make a difference,” he said, adding that the longer the detainees were being held, the more someone was gaining from it.

“They are afraid if the five come out, everything will be peaceful. They don’t want that to happen,” he added.

Samy Vellu said he had spoken on the matter to Prime Minister Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister Najib and Home Minister Syed
Hamid Albar, and said he had had many discussions with the Government and was optimistic of securing their release.

“You can’t talk to anyone higher than the Prime Minister. If he says he will look into the matter and talk to the Home Minister, we must listen to him,” he said.

“If we don’t want to listen to the Prime Minister, there is no way we can get anything done,” he added.

Seriously, I can’t remember if anything Samy Vellu said in recent times became real, so I’m not sure if anyone will believe his latest statements.

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27 places of worship approved in Selangor

October 4th, 2008
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This is indeed a good news. It would have been better if the state published the location and for for who it was approved.

However, what surprises me is the claim by the EXCO Lau Weng San that this was in response to “demolition of the
19-year-old Sri Maha Kaliamman temple near Kampung Tasek Tambahan in
Ampang on Sept 11”. Is he talking about the approval or the quit rent and lease period?

I don’t this knee-jerk response is good. There’s bound to be complaints or problems with this kind of fast approvals. Unless of course, Lau was misquoted and the figures were for the period between March and October this year because Ronnie Liu at another press conference said that “so far 27 permits for places of worship, including churches, Hindu
temples and Chinese temples on government land, had been given since
the took over the state government”.

I fail to see how 27 places can be allocated at one time, so most likely Lau or the reporter got it wrong.

The owners of 27 plots of state land approved for
places of worship in Selangor need pay only RM1,000 quit rent for the
first year and a nominal RM1 for subsequent years.

Kampung Tunku
state assemblyman Lau Weng San said this was approved by the state
government, which had also agreed to give 99-year leases on the land.

The places of worship include churches and Hindu and Buddhist
temples, he said at a press conference at the Selangor DAP headquarters
in Taman Paramount here yesterday.

Councillors of local authorities and 27 Selangor DAP committee members were present.

Lau said the move was made in response to the demolition of the
19-year-old Sri Maha Kaliamman temple near Kampung Tasek Tambahan in
Ampang on Sept 11.

Of course, all this is nice to hear, but lets see if the buildings actually rises before giving more credit. For the beginning, its a good start.

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Kids without birth certificates

October 4th, 2008
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I think this is becoming a monthly affair now. We seem to read about stateless people quite a lot in the last one year. This case is a bit different because the four children aged between 8 and 12 were abandoned by their mother. There’s no clue if any birth certificate exists or not. Looking at the illiterate status of the children, there will be doubt if they were Malaysians in the first place. No information about the father.

So what will happen to these children. Deported in future? To where? Or forever given PR status? Can anyone adopt them and if yes, would the kids be given citizenship?

Why does the mother do this? The kids in a limbo because of her. At least if she can clarify their status it will be easier. Very sad.

How to help them?

Kasturi enjoys reading the Ladybird series of children’s books for 5 and 6-year-olds. But Kasturi is 12. She only learnt to read the words “toy”, “dog” and “shop” recently.

Kasturi is no slow-learner, just that she only recently began to learn to read.

She is the eldest of four children, none of whom have ever been to school.

She learned her ABCs two years ago from a kind neighbour in Kampung Jawa, Klang, where she used to live.
In the past two months, Kasturi has been getting reading lessons at the Pusat Jagaan Kanak Kanak Sayang Lovely Nursing Centre in Sungai Way.

She said she loved to read and was eager to start going to school. “I want to go to school and meet new friends.”

But Kasturi, her sister Malliga, 11, and brothers Vijay, 9, and Suria, 8, have no birth certificates. At least, none that the people at the centre know of.

The children’s mother had left them at the centre in August, without leaving their birth certificates, or any other form of identification.

A. Raja, who runs the centre, said he wished that the children’s mother had told him where they were born so that he could trace the birth certificates.

“Without the documents the children won’t be able to have an education and later get a job. Their future is bleak.”

The siblings, however, are not the only ones at the centre without identification documents. Nine other abandoned children face the same problem.

Thanush, 3, was also brought to the centre without his birth certificate, said Raja.

“I am at a loss as to how to help these children.

“Without their documents they are as good as stateless. I hope the authorities can help us.”

Raja said it would be difficult to take the children to government hospitals and clinics if they fall ill.

For the time being, the children are given meals and taught lessons at a double-storey rented house in SS3.

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HINDRAF supporters guilty pleading controversy

October 4th, 2008
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Earlier, this issue was highlighted by Waytha and lawyer Surendran. But was denied by the defendants lawyer. Now, 9 of the 29 who pleaded guilty are saying that they were not informed by the lawyer:

Nine of those who paid a RM1,000 fine are claiming that they did not tell their lawyer, Datuk N. Sivananthan, that they wanted to plead guilty.

According to a spokesman for the nine, Sivananthan had asked them to indicate their plea on pieces of paper to know who wanted to go to trial.

He alleged the lawyer saw judge Akhtar Tahir at the mention of the case and told him that 29 members of the group wanted to plead guilty.

The spokesman said they were not given a chance to decide on their plea in court and were surprised by the turn of events.

Akhtar gave them two months to pay their fines on the understanding that they could extend it to six months.

Sivananthan later told the court that his team of lawyers was withdrawing from representing the 25 others.

Akhtar told the accused that the trial would continue even if new lawyers were not appointed.

The spokesman said those who had pleaded guilty were upset that they had not been given an opportunity to have their case heard.

I’m also confused with the judge’s statement that the “trial will continue even if new lawyers were not appointed.” So, who is going to represent the accused? Wouldn’t it be unfair?

However, Sivananthan was shocked over the allegations. He said they were aware of the whole thing:

Sivananthan, meanwhile, said he was “shocked and disappointed” by the allegation that the 29 had been “coerced” into pleading guilty.

The Kuala Lumpur Bar Criminal Practice Committee chairman said those who pleaded guilty were aware that they could have claimed trial like the 25 others.

“We explained to them that with 54 accused and 200 subpoenas issued by the court, it would take time for the court to proceed. It’s a different matter if there was only one accused.”

Sivananthan said the 29 had voluntarily pleaded guilty and confirmed facts in support of the charge.

“They were also advised about the consequences of pleading guilty,” said the lead counsel among a group of seven lawyers from the KL Bar’s Legal Aid Centre.

He said all those who pleaded guilty had signed letters confirming that they wanted to do so.

Sivananthan said the accused were allowed to ask questions to clear their doubts on their plea.

“We then told them to go back and think about it before coming to court the following day.”

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MCA elections attract Indians says Merdeka Center survey

October 3rd, 2008
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Wow, I wonder if MCA change their name and constitution, would more Indians leave MIC/DAP/PKR/PPP and join MCA? 🙂

The poll, conducted by the centre between Sept 11 and 22, interviewed 1,002 registered voters on their perceptions of current issues, the economy and the country’s leadership. Respondents were selected via random stratified sampling method along the lines of state of residence, ethnicity, gender and age. 55% Malay, 36% Chinese, 9% Indian. 51% urbanites and 48% from rural area. Equal number of male and female respondents. 10% aged 63 above, 16% aged 56-63, 29% aged 44-55, 26% aged 32-43, and 19% aged 21-31.

A quarter of the respondents were homemakers, 22% were employed in private sector, 12% each are self-employed and retired, while 8% in public sector, 4% unemployed, and 2% own business.

35% of them had less than RM1500 household income, 26% between RM1501-3000, 14% between RM3001-RM5000, 12% having RM5000 or more, and 13% no answer.

In terms of location, 38% from central region, 24% from southern, 19% from eastern and nothern respectively. As for education level, 35% were SPM leavers, 19% primary education, 18% up to PMR level, 10% diploma, and 11% degree and above.

The margin of error was estimated at ±3.10%. It was also noted that the survey was concluded during “impending” September 16th crossover. The full poll results are in PDF format over here. It covers a wide area –

1. problems affecting the country at the moment – for which 50% were concerned over economic issues and 21% over political issues. Political issues rose 20% compared to March 2008.

2. satisfaction over federal goverment’s handling of the issues – generally the dissatisfaction is above 69&.

3. 21% were not aware of tabling of Budget! 42% said budget not beneficial at all, 23% said somewhat unbeneficial and 28% said somewhat beneficial.

4. 54% said if Pakatan forms federal government, the Malay political power will remain but UMNO loses power.

5. 53% were at least somewhat dissatisfied with PM Badawi’s performance, while 43% approved his performance. This was an overall improvement for all races if compared to the poll in mid August. with Chinese increasing by 5%, while Indians by 3%, Malays by 2%.

6. 44% agree that Najib will be a good PM while 39% disagree. This is an improvement compared to July poll results, except for Indians who declined 5%. It increased the most among the Chinese, 13%.

7. 69% say that Ahmad Ismail’s statement is unappropriate, while 25% agreed. The Indians registered 100% disproval, while it was 90% for the Chinese. It was 58% for the Malays. Hmmm…this is food for thought.

8. In the exclusive question for Malay respondents, 41% felt that Ahmad Ismail’s statement was born out of concern for the Malay community, while 55% said it was due to own political interest.

9. Quite a number of Indians believe Anwar is not an agent of US/Jews (85%), is not a sexual criminal (86%), is a competent manager of the economy (85%) and is a strong and visionary leader (90%). The other communities were not so believing.

10. And probably the most shocking find was that 70% of the Indians knew about MCA election compared to the Chinese themselves (55%) ! Indians were also not agreeable to a politician tainted with sexual scandal to hold senior position in a political party and government at 79%, with Malays at 88%. The Chinese were 54% disagreeable.

There were some other questions related to Anwar Ibrahim, and MCA elections as well.

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