Archive for the ‘Indian’ category

Brother shot dead, sister drinks poison

November 13th, 2009
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Brother shot dead by police, so sister drinks poison AND poisons her four kids! I couldn’t believe it at first when receive email from HRP. Who in their right mind would take suicide as an option. Yeah, you loved your brother. But to the extend want to murder own kids as well, so that they “can be with him”? Who’s going to answer the kids’ father?  Is the lady being selfish? – she want her brother and also her kids, so kill them too?

If she survives, there would be an attempted murder case against her. Who is going to take care of the children? What happens to the marriage? All gone down the drain? These 4 kids end up as product of broken family? If not handled well, may produce 4 more criminals?

What made her contemplate suicide? Didn’t she know its a sin? Where is the counseling for family members of the dead? High time such a unit is set up to provide support for family members.

I don’t think her case should be used by HRP to make a point, it gives a wrong picture.

Unable to stand the grief of losing her youngest brother in a police shootout recently, a housewife and her four children consumed poison so that they could “all go and meet him.”

R. Seetha, 33, is said to have given her children drinks doused with weed-killer, before downing a glass of the deadly poison herself.

Seetha’s brother Surenthiran, 24, was one of the five suspected robbers and alleged member of the PCO Boy gang killed during a police shootout early Sunday morning.

According to Seetha’s sister Parvathy, one of their siblings Sumathi, three, had seen Seetha and her children drinking the deadly potion at about 8.30am at their parents home in Kg Berempat, in Kapar near here on Thursday.

“Sumathi grabbed the drinks from them and called for help to rush my sister to a clinic in Kapar before bringing them to the hospital,” said Parvathy, 28, at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital here where the family has been warded.

Seetha was still fighting for her life at the hospital’s emergency unit whilst two of her children — Darshini, nine, and Yugendran, five — were unconscious at the intensive care unit at press time.

According to hospital sources, Seetha’s condition was fast deteriorating as the weed-killer had severely damaged her internal organs.

Two other children Usha Rani, seven, and Navina, three, were warded at the children’s ward.

Seetha’s lorry driver husband M. Manimaran, 35, said his wife had told him Wednesday night that she wanted to see her brother and be with him.

“I didn’t take it seriously and am still unable to understand why she has done something like this,” said Manimaran, adding that Seetha was exceptionally close to Surenthiran.

Seetha is the third child whilst Surenthiran was the eighth sibling in a family of nine children.

Both Seetha and Manimaran and their children, who lived in Gemenceh, Negri Sembilan, had come to her parents home to attend Surenthiran’s funeral.

Seetha’s father R. Ramapathy, 61, said Seetha was not able to accept the manner in which her favourite brother had died.

There was a lot of talk at the funeral about how he was killed, and this visibly upset her, he added.

He said his wife R. Saraswathy, 54, was inconsolable and shattered over what had happened.

“We lost our eldest son in an accident not long ago, followed by Surenthiran’s shocking death and now we may lose Seetha and our grandchildren,” said Ramapathy who stood vigil outside the emergency unit.

Klang district police chief Asst Comm Mohamad Mat Yusop said police were investigating the case under attempted suicide.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Party chief P. Uthayakumar who was at the hospital said that in the event Seetha died, her remains would be brought to Parliament as a mark of protest against police shootings.

“The police should arrest suspects, charge them and send them to prison if found guilty instead of shooting them down,” he said.

Manoharan unhappy

November 13th, 2009
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Interesting to read the article below. While some may choose to brand Manoharan as being racist or narrow-minded, I have to say one thing – when issues involving Indians arise, there seems to be very little noise from the PR side (only Manikavasagam always create some ruckus). So, can the public be blamed if they think the PR coalition doesn’t care that much?

DAP assemblyperson M Manoharan today described Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor as no different than the previous government run by Barisan Nasional.

In his 20-minute Selangor 2010 debate debut, the former ISA detainee and Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson said the Pakatan government should have rewarded the Indians the most. His reasoning was that ‘they are the ones who contributed to the coalition’s huge win in the last general elections’.

Manoharan also chided Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim for only having one Indian exco in the government leadership lineup.

“The government is supposed to appoint two Indian excos. Instead, they only gave one (to Dr Xavier Jayakumar). [so, who made the agreement to have two EXCOs and why only got one now?]

He asked why Bukit Melawati assemblyperson M Muthiah wasn’t appointed as well. Manoharan said that as Muthiah is an engineer, he would be qualified to be an exco. [Good question. How many others are equally or more qualified than Muthiah in terms of academic/professional qualification?]

Manoharan also attacked the menteri besar for giving a ‘less-important’ porfolio to Jayakumar, a dentist. The latter was tasked with the health, estate workers, poverty and caring government portfolio. [it also depends on the person on the seat to make use of his portfolio and help people. What are the things being done for estate people? What are the funds available for poor people? All these come under Xavier.]

“If a dentist from Umno (Dr Mohd Khir Toyo) could be made a menteri besar, why isn’t a dentist in Pakatan given a more important portfolio?” said Manoharan.

Manoharan said the menteri besar should not have commented on a case sub judice (under judgement) when Khalid rebutted the accusation that Umno was involved in the infamous ‘cow-head’ protest last August.

Last Tuesday, Khalid defended Umno over the recent protests against the relocation of a Hindu temple in Section 23. Though he admitted that the protestors were from Umno, he stopped short of accusing the party of orchestrating the protest.

Continuing his tirade, Manoharan said the budget presented by the state government should have addressed more plights among the Indian community.

“Selangor still does not make Indians as its priority. I hope they will come up with their own think-tank so that they would not lose the Indian support in the next election,” he said. He cited Hindraf’s think-tank as a deciding factor in Pakatan’s win in the last election.

At this juncture, PKR rep Azmin Ali (Bukit Antarabangsa) interjected, saying that any Pakatan assemblyperson should champion every race, rather than focusing only on one race.

“I am a Malay, but I don’t champion my own race. I am concerned about the Indians and the Chinese too,” said Azmin (left). [But I can’t remember him commenting on any issues related to Indians so far. Anyone can help out here?]

He also said that the menteri besar, although he did not come out with specific programmes for the Indian community in the budget, still allocated RM4 million to Indian vernacular schools. [Yeah, this is one good thing, but the other schools (chinese, missionary, and agama) also got RM4 million each. But more importantly, how many schools have received their own lands?]

Azmin also said that Khalid had allocated RM2 million to estate workers’ children who were mostly from Indian families. [this is a good thing too, hope its an annual thing, and similar help should be given to the pribumis as well]

“I can assure you that throughout the time we have governed the state, the state government is always concerned about the Indian community and other races as well,” added Azmin.

However, Manoharan remained unconvinced, saying that such arguments were also made by BN previously.

SJKT Ladang Bukit Jalil still waiting for building

November 10th, 2009
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DPM Muhyidin came and went. 2 million promised (and reported by all major newspapers). Building to be ready in time for 2011 intake (another 13 months left). And forget to mention that there’s no field, no place for expansion.

Last cabinet committee on Indian community saw news that funds allocated were not enough, and the MIC requested for extra RM85 million or so. So, what’s the fate of this school?

Uthayakumar’s Human Rights Party organised a protest at the site:

One of the PIBG committee members, V.Shanthi, said that the committee were kept is dark by the Education Ministry, DBKL and the Wilayah Minister on the supposed extension building to be build at present school site.

At the proposed new site:-

1) With One acre only it is insufficient for future expansion.[this is normal. No thought is even given for future use. Typical planning (in)capability]

2) The classrooms are much smaller then the standard size. [this is serious accusation!]

3) There is no space for school field.

4) There is a future plan to build a LRT station nearby. This will cause a massive traffic jam and it is unsafe for the children.

5) There is no proper planning by DBKL because it involves a Tamil School. But when come to Malay and Chinese schools they will take into consideration the future expansion. These are the injustices that we are against.

Meanwhile at the present site, there is around 26 acres of reserved land and it is in a safe place for children away from main roads. Why can’t the UMNO government give 6 acres out of the 26 acres land to this Bukit Jalil Tamil School? They will have enough places to build a school field, an assembly hall for children and for future expansion.

Going back to history, when Bukit Jalil was slated to build a mega Sports Complex there RM Billions was for Commonwealth Games in 1998. During that time the UMNO government spent Billions building the Stadium, sports complexes, apartments, schools and etc but when it comes to this 80 year old Tamil school UMNO did not bother to upgrade as they had done for the Malay schools.

The Indian settlement in Kg Pandan KL will also be developed and majority of the residents are to be shifted to Puchong. Another big load of students will be coming in. How is SJKT Bukit Jalil going to cope with the sudden increase? Or would the students be pushed into national type schools?

The school was embroiled in controversies since last 2 years – flooding, relocation to cemetery plot, etc. (Just search in this blog). The parents and PIBG have done alot, putting to shame those in power. Even hired own contractors to fix proper drainage!

Today, The Star reported that the school is in the dark and no communication from the relevant government agencies.

THE SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), School Board and Residents Committee members are in the dark over a proposed new Tamil school.

School Board chairman K. Venkata Ramani said when Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin visited the school in April, he gave an assurance of an allocation of RM2 million for the new school, which would have additional facilities.

“Tan Sri Muhiyiddin added that the proposed new school would be ready by 2011. There is now a signboard for a proposed SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil Tambahan about 1.1km from the existing school.

“We want the new school to have a field and more classrooms.

“We also want the existing school to remain here as it has been here for the last 80 years and has rich history,” said Venkata, who queried why the Education Ministry had not informed the PTA nor sought its suggestions on the project, although they had sent a letter to Muhiyiddin, the Education Ministry and Public Works Department last month. [because of inaction from the officers, the Minister is in a tight spot.]

“Our present committee wants to settle this before the next committee takes over,” he said.

SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil school board treasurer Gunasingam Veerasingam said that the school had 114 pupils and 15 small classrooms which could accommodate 10 to 15 pupils each. It has only a badminton court for the pupils to play sports and the grounds are hit by frequent flash floods.

SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil PTA chairman Balakrishnan Sadaian added that Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan had said 200 Indian families from the Kampung Pandan Indian settlement would be shifting to Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s People’s Housing Project (PPR) Kampung Muhibbah flats next to school soon.

“The existing school won’t be able to cope with the influx,” he said.

The SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil PTA, School Board and Residents Committee members want a detailed report on the proposed new school.

So, who is going to do the fire-fighting this time? The Deputy Minister for KL, Saravanan? Maybe ask the parents and schools to look at the “bigger picture!”  🙂

Its this kind of news that erodes the faith of the community on the government and its leaders. Promises not fulfilled. Or promise something that is stop-gap measure. No long-term solution. Regardless of which coalition, the problem still remains.

Anyway, I did suggest that in 10MP, a project is created to convert about 30 schools a year from partially-aided to fully-aided status. Within 5 years, at least 150 schools will be converted, which is nearly  half of the total number of partially-aided schools. Let’s see if any action is take this time, or more empty talks only.

Crematorium in Puchong

November 9th, 2009
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Interesting to note that MPSJ’s budget for 2010 includes RM350,000 for a crematorioum in Puchong:

“The council has included in its 2010 budget a RM350,000 allocation to build a crematorium in Puchong.”

11 get loan from Micro Credit Loan Scheme

November 6th, 2009
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Another interesting news. Well done to the branch for their effort.

Perhaps one wonders about the 11 people, if they are from same party or not. Hopefully not because that will convey a different meaning.

ELEVEN people who applied for loans through the Pusat Bandar Country Homes MIC branch had their wishes granted recently.

The 11 received RM6,000 to RM15,000 under the government’s Micro Credit Loan Scheme. A total of RM128,000 was presented during the 1Malaysia Hi-Tea-cum-Deevapali Celebration at the MIC branch office in Bandar Country Homes, Rawang.

About 80 people from poor families, old folks and the disabled also received hampers during the event.

MIC branch chairman Madhu Marimuthu was the event’s organising chairman.

Local delicacies were served and guests were entertained to cultural performances.

“It has been a year since the Pusat Bandar Country Homes MIC service centre was opened.

“Since our opening, we have organised numerous events like netball and futsal competition, English classes, health seminars, help for single mothers and offered business loans for the residents.

“Our service centre handles many cases and people come here for help. Our programme today is to lend a hand to the poor and provide loans to help boost Indian businessmen.

“I hope the non-government organisations in Bandar Country Homes will work together by holding activities to strengthen the 1Malaysia concept,’’ he said.