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MCCBCHST releases booklet to raise awareness of religious rights

June 20th, 2007
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Booklet to raise awareness of religious rights
Giam Say Khoon

KUALA LUMPUR (June 19, 2007): The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) today launched a booklet to raise public awareness on religious rights.

Its deputy president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the booklet, entitled Unity Threatened by Continuing Infringements of Religious Freedom, highlighted the personal tragedies of various ordinary Malaysians.

At a press conference today, Vaithilingam said the council had sent a memorandum to the government through the National Unity Advisory Panel in October 2005, calling for each individual's freedom of religion under the constitution to be protected.

"In the memorandum, we had set out all these problems and urged the government to take legislative reforms to alleviate these concerns. Until today, no such reforms have been made," he said.

It was because of this that the council decided to produce the booklet, and "to encourage debate so we can all jointly seek solutions to these problems", he said.

The public can get a copy of the booklet, which includes the memorandum, at the council's headquarters at the Buddhist Maha Vihara in Brickfields and from the council's member associations. He said the booklet will also be sent to all members of parliament.

The council, All Women's Action Society, Sisters in Islam, Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Women's Centre for Change and Women's Development Centre also initiated a candlelight vigil at Dataran Merdeka today evening.

Vaithilingam said the vigil was held in solidarity with M. Revathi, who was born to Indian Muslim parents and was sent to a religious rehabilitation centre after she applied to the syariah court to leave Islam. She has professed to be Hindu and married Suresh Veerappan under Hindu rites and they have a 15-month-old daughter.

"The venue of the vigil was Dataran Merdeka, where 50 years ago our independence from colonial rule was proclaimed. It was intentionally chosen to give Revathi some hope that she too will have freedom soon," he said.

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Molotov cocktail attack on MIC official house

June 19th, 2007
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Molotov cocktail attack on MIC official house
source
KLANG, Tues:
 

It was a nerve-racking 15 minutes for a family of seven in Kapar on Sunday morning when two Molotov cocktails were thrown into their house.

The mattress, pillows and blankets in the hall caught fire in the incident at 4.50pm in Jalan Keretapi Lama here.

No one was injured, as they put out the fire with water from the bathroom before escaping through the back door.

R.M. Thangaiah, 58, his wife A. Indrani, 50, and three of their children were sleeping in the hall when they heard the window panes being smashed.

As they got up to check and realised it was a brick, the first Molotov cocktail landed inside, narrowly missing their son Rajagunalan, 26, and daughters, Rajarajeswari, 21, and Tharani, 7.
Their eldest son, Rajakumaran, 28, and his pregnant wife were sleeping in one of the two rooms in the house.

Then, the second Molotov cocktail landed inside.

Thangaiah, the Sungai Puloh MIC branch chairman, said the fire spread very fast.

The smoke from the burning mattress almost blinded them and they were suffocating, he said.

"It was the most frightening 15 minutes of my life. For a moment, I thought we were all going to die."

He said it was a double tragedy for him as 13 months ago, his house in Kampung Sungai Puloh burnt down in a fire that razed 18 houses there.

Thangaiah’s family then moved to the current rented house.

He said one of his neighbours saw a man wearing a helmet and a dark jacket running towards a motorcycle where another man was waiting. Both sped off from the scene.

He believes the incident was politically-motivated as there was some misunderstanding on Saturday.

"I am scared to leave my house now. I don’t know who may be waiting to harm me or my family."

District police chief ACP Mohd Rodwan Yusof said they had recorded statements from witnesses and hoped to pick up the suspects soon.

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Buddhist mass wedding on 07-07-07

June 19th, 2007
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Buddhist mass wedding on 07-07-07

By LIM CHIA YING
 

COUPLES intending to get married can join in a mass wedding at the Buddhist Maha Vihara in Brickfields on July 7. 

Chief High Priest of Malaysia The Most Venerable K Sri Dhammaratana Maha Nayaka Thera, who initiated the event, said it was the first time in the temple's history that a mass wedding was held. 

He said 50 couples would be united on that day to coincide with Malaysia’s 50th Independence this year. 

Dhammaratana: 50 couples to be united on that day to coincide with the country’s 50th Independence Day.

The temple's in-house assistants registrar of marriages Jimmy Chan Paik Yim and Victor James Pandita would be in charged of the wedding registration. 

“After the registration, we'll arrange for them to do a wedding procession inside the temple. There'll be 50 monks so each monk will be assigned to bless one couple. This is then followed by the drinking of holy water, a ritual signifying that husband and wife must share whatever secrets they have with each other,” Dhammaratana said. 

After that, the 50 couples would be making their way down a wedding parade around the Brickfields area while sitting on horse carriages and trishaws! 

Accompanying the entourage would be Malay, Chinese and Indian musicians. 

“We'll have the kompang group, lion and dragon dance, traditional Indian drums as well as Bhangra performance,” Dhammaratana said. 

He said that by incorporating the above features, he hoped to encourage the Buddhist community to celebrate weddings the modern way. 

There will be a mandatory briefing for accepted couples this Sunday at 2pm.  

The top three Best Dressed Couples on registration day will walk away with exciting prizes.  

Emceeing the event are 8TV news presenter Owen Yap and current Miss Malaysia World 2007 Deborah Priya Henry. 

Those interested can obtain and fill in forms available at the Buddhist Maha Vihara. 

TT Resources (Tai Thong Group) is the event's main sponsor while Bukit Bin-tang MCA chairman Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng is one of the sponsors. 

For enquiries, call Lucas at 012-225 1111 or Serene at 012-299 5879. 

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2007 IPTA Intake Statistics

June 19th, 2007
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total applied: 68,110
total qualified (min 2.00): 53,400
total accepted: 40,116
 
24,924 bumiputras (62.1%)
12,745 Chinese (31.8%)
2,447 Indians (6.1%). 
 
Medic place: 925
Dentistry: 205
Pharmacy: 280

Students can now print offer letters directly from website

By KAREN CHAPMAN

source: The Star 19/6/2007

PUTRAJAYA: Students who have obtained places at a public university can now print the offer letters direct from the institution’s website. 

Previously they had to wait for the letters through the post, leading to problems when these arrived late. 

Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said said he had directed universities to send out offer letters from today but students also had the option of downloading them. 

“This will enable those living in the peninsula and accepted into universities in Sabah and Sarawak, or vice-versa, more time to prepare,” he said at a press conference yesterday to announce this year’s public university admission figures. 

Prof Hassan said out of the 68,110 applicants to public universities this year, 53,400 had the minimum qualification of a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.00. 

“From these, 40,116 have been accepted for the 2007/08 academic year, a slight increase over last year’s figure of 40,016,” he said.  

Of the total accepted, 24,924 are bumiputras (62.1%), 12,745 Chinese (31.8%) and 2,447 Indians (6.1%). 

Places offered for medicine and dentistry remain the same as last year, at 925 and 205 respectively, with 280 for pharmacy this year, compared with 285 last year. 

On the cut-off point for entry into medicine, Prof Hassan said the ministry had not had time to analyse the figures as it had only completed the selection process on Sunday.  

“The cut-off point is high. From my personal observation, it is those with around 95 or 96 marks who got into medicine, but this is only an estimate,” he said. 

He said that since last year, entry into public universities had been based on both academic achievement (90%) and co-curriculum involvement (10%). 

This year, however, the co-curriculum marks came from the Education Ministry, not from what students themselves had input when applying, he added. 

According to him, there were candidates with high CGPA scores who did not get their first choice as they had low marks for co-curriculum involvement.  

“Students have to be wise when choosing their courses and the universities,” he said. 

On candidates with high marks who had not obtained courses of their choice, Prof Hassan said the ministry had tried to offer them options similar to the ones they had asked for. 

The ministry has also set up a counter at its premises here where students can check the status of their application or receive counselling up to June 29.  

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MTUC plans to hold pickets

June 19th, 2007
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i was passing by JPM yesterday morning when loads of people converged there. Some came in chartered buses, while others drove. There were easily 300 people at that time. Lots of Indians.
 
poobalan
 
 
MTUC plans to hold pickets
 

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) plans to stage pickets at various places in the country if the Government does not respond positively to its request for a minimum wage and cost of living allowance (cola) for private sector employees. 

It has given the Government a one-week ultimatum to respond. 

It plans to picket simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Bangi, Shah Alam, Klang, Johor, Kuching and Penang next Monday between 5pm and 6.30pm. 

It is seeking legislation to fix a minimum wage of RM900 as well as cola at RM300.  

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud and secretary-general G. Rajasekaran were among nine people who presented a five-page memorandum to the Prime Minister’s senior private secretary, Ahmad Yaakob, at 11.30am yesterday. 

Syed Shahir said he was told that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is in Russia and would be returning only next week. 

“The picket will go on as scheduled,” he said. 

Syed Shahir told reporters that 40% of the 10 million workforce in the private sector were earning salaries below the poverty income level of RM691 per month and that it was timely for their request to be fulfilled now that the civil service had been given a pay rise and increased cola. 

“The minimum salary in the civil service should be a benchmark for the private sector to follow,” he said, citing an example of a hospital attendant who had initially earned RM490 and was now earning RM600 salary and RM300 cola, amounting to RM900.

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