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Samy goes begging again for scholarships!

May 22nd, 2008
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I remember Samy saying “no more begging” when Pahang EXCO line up did not have any Indians in it (well, only one candidate is available!). I suppose he only meant for that specific case. Now its that time of the year (nope, not X’mas or Deepavali) where a short serial drama is played out.

This time, only 72 out 2000 (3.6%) recipients were Indians. Stories are aplenty about students with lesser As getting scholarship due to their privileged status. Just check the letters section in The Star yesterday for some examples.

As usual, the aggrieved students and parents have no choice but to approach political parties (heard PKR’s Gopalakrishnan is organising a meeting as well, while Sivanesan had done so in Perak). Then, the party will be made to look like saviours when in fact it was their failure that bought the community down to this level in the first place. I think the parents and student are more mature now. They’ll just nod their heads at Samy’s speech, agreeing to everything he says, put up with “words of advice” until their kids get the scholarships. But when come to election time, another rout for MIC is expected. Don’t think that the community can be fooled by this kind of drama. » Read more: Samy goes begging again for scholarships!

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wife claims ISA detainee wheelchaired due to torture

May 22nd, 2008
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Wow! This is quite serious, detainee (temporarily?) paralysed until need to use wheelchair. His condition was not informed to even his wife until brought out for treatment. Wonder why he is detained for until end up like this.

Wife of ISA detainee lodges report, alleges torture

source
KUALA LUMPUR: The wife of an Internal Security Act detainee lodged a police report yesterday against the Home Ministry, police and the Kamunting detention centre in Perak, claiming her husband had been tortured.
Sharmila Uthiakumar claimed her husband Sanjeev Kumar Krishnan, 25, is now wheelchair-bound because of the torture.

In her report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters, she claimed her husband’s legs and his left hand were paralysed.

This was the second report to be lodged. The first was lodged by Sanjeev on April 25, at the Taiping police headquarters.

Sharmila said before her husband’s two-year ISA detention, he was remanded for 60 days until Sept 22 last year.
“I was only informed about my husband’s condition in April this year, after he was brought by the camp authorities to the Taiping Hospital for treatment.”

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church only wait 16 years to get approval

May 22nd, 2008
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Only 16 years in this case. The one in Selangor is well past the thirties, if I’m not mistaken. Again, political intervention is needed.

Johor church gets okay to convert land

source

JOHOR BARU: The congregation of Holy Light Church here had reason to rejoice last Sunday – they finally received approval from the Johor government to convert its land from agricultural to religious use after a 16-year wait.  The state executive council met on April 9 and approved the application, said Bar Council member Roger Tan, who is also a congregation member of the 56-year-old English church.

Last Sunday, Tan handed the official letter of approval to senior pastor Rev Nicholas Yeo.

“We are grateful that the Mentri Besar personally intervened in this matter,” said Tan who had highlighted the church’s plight to Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.  “Within two hours, the mentri besar called back and asked me to inform the church that the government would consider favourably our application after the election. True to his word, our application has been approved.”

In 1989, the church bought the agricultural land in Mukim Plentong, next to the Ponderosa Golf Course. When they applied for the conversion of the land use, they discovered that the state government had other plans for it.  The church then filed a suit against the government in 1995, and the government subsequently withdrew from the land acquisition. In 1999, the church applied again for the use of the land, which was sub-divided into two lots, to be converted for institutional and religious purposes. In 2000, the state government only approved one piece for institutional use.

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Joints and Pillars needs to be checked too

May 19th, 2008
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I have been surveying to purchase a house for about 1.5 years. I’ve seen a few houses, some new, some old. For the old ones, I asked for advice on what to look out when checking out the place. My contractor friends mentioned that houses that are old (30 years or so) need to be checked for electrical wiring, water piping, roof tiles, structures and so on. Things decay, wear out, spoilt as time goes on. We need to change them we the need arises. Nothing last forever.

Even for the new houses, we still have to look out for cracks on the walls and beams, water leakage from ceilings an toilets etc. Nothing is perfect.

Change is inevitable.

Even when religious books are being scrutinized to see if they can stand the challenge of time, what more of laws made by mere mortals. Its not as if or constitution had not been modified before. Google around or compare the original one with the latest one. I remember reading that more than dozens of changes have been made.

Thus I can only politely say that its ridiculous at the very least to even mention that an entity that has a lump of matter called brain between the ears cannot question things that are made by other mortals, way back 50 years ago. Imagine talking to a youth in his late 20s now about life without TV, computers, handphone, telephone, toll booths, KFC, Proton cars and ATM machines. He would be aghast at how people lived long time ago. These are the people who we want to convince that something written 50 years ago is beyond questioning, akin to word of God, ultimate truth? Well, good luck! » Read more: Joints and Pillars needs to be checked too

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Who are the slaves Mahathir?

May 19th, 2008
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Just before announcing his withdrawal from UMNO, Mahathir had talked about “ketuanan” of the privileged people. Looked kind of seditious to me. It has every intention of putting the privileged ones at loggerheads with normal Malaysians.

The irony is that he is talking about Malays when he is in fact of mixed ancestry. In fact, questions are abound on what actually constitutes a “malay”. As it is, nowadays some indian muslims claim to be malays since the rules are simple – practise malay culture, speaks malay language, and professes islam as religion. Chinese, Indians, Indonesians, Fillipinos, Thais can soon be “malay” as well after a generation. Well, let’s leave that for another day for the experts to argue.

I think normal Malaysians respect others. Questioning does not mean lack of respect. Why not think of it as promoting justice and equality, inquisitiveness, or plain old concern of our nation?

I think its time face it that people are moving beyond “social contracts” and privileges. Its an open world and no one waits for you. If we continue living in a cocoon, claiming we are “superior”, stepping down on others, threatening, whacking people into submission, well, it won’t be long before we are forgotten and banished to footnotes in history books.

Anyway, perhaps Mahathir can also tell us if malays are “tuans”, who are the slaves or the servants. » Read more: Who are the slaves Mahathir?

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