Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email I was supposed to write about this on the week after Chinese New Year, but delayed it to after Rose for PM event. I’m sure many of us are aware about the revelation that many Indians (40,000!) don’t have proper documentation like birth certificates. This means they are denied many basic rights like education, access to welfare services, employment etc. Now, most of us will remember MIC people going around promoting the tour they were organising all around the country starting from Klang. Actually, the program was initiated by others and hijacked by MIC (now, why does that not sound surprising?).
The initial event to be held at Dewan Hamzah Klang was planned by a Mr Nathan. SMS promoting the event were being sent around and he even informed me about the briefing to be held in Kapar on the preceding Sunday (3rd February). He had highlighted the issue of birth cert and IC problem to Khir Toyo. With the help of some other people, he managed to get the Registration Dept involved and Toyo to attend the program. According to him, among the problems that is related with birth certificate and IC is “pemastautin” or “residentship” and blank values for “agama” or “religion” field in the documents. “Pemastautin Tetap” means permanent resident, but not a citizen. This is how some illiterate and uninformed Indians end up as non-citizens.
Just few days before the event, he was contacted by MIC people (or should it be thugs?) and asked to add MIC Youth name as the organisers. They implied that if he does not corporate, they’ll inform MB that this program is by Makkal Sakthi (and that means linking to HINDRAF) and get everything cancelled. Nathan only want to solve the problem faced by the community (including some people he knew who were having problems with birth cert / IC – imagine new born baby given the name “TIADA NAMA” and the illiterate parents don’t even know about it!), so he agreed to their request. So from that day, the program started using MIC name with T.Mohan (candidate for Batu Caves) being the organiser.
Nathan also received call from some claiming to be Vel Paari, asking him not to organise this kind of programs anymore. The caller said that only MIC can organise for the community. Others should not do anything or get themselves involved.
Anyways, on the event day, the MIC group came as usual in large number. When Toyo left, everyone disappeared. The volunteers (renamed to Sekretariat Sukarelawan Barisan Nasional) were the one working so hard helping the visitors, while these nameseekers just doing it for fame and publicity.
On that day, nearly 4000 forms were filled up and we hope these people without birth certificate will get theirs soon.
We have seen the representatives of the party that claims to be sole representative of the indian community talking about “community must help themselves” and that “MIC will work with anyone for the benefit of the community”. But this incident proves that the party is a virus that strives to strangle the community, make us paralysed and become totally dependent on them for anything and everything. The party (and by extension the leaders) think they are the ONE and no one else can help the community. Is this what you and I want?
For me the only good thing is that MIC claiming to plan to organise this throughout the country.
Thousands register for birth certificates and identity cards
KLANG: Thousands thronged the Klang Municipal Council hall here yesterday during a birth certificate and identity card registration exercise, clearing out about 3,000 applications forms in less than two hours. The exercise, organised by Klang MIC, saw young and old applicants from the Indian community in Selangor and other states waiting hours before registration started at 9am.
By the time Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo arrived at 11am, the form tray was empty. “It is unexpected to see so many people without birth certificates and identity cards here,” said Dr Mohd Khir after checking the registration counters at Dewan Hamzah. He said besides people from Selangor who were facing “stateless” problems, he was also surprised to see many from states as far as Johor and Kedah throng the hall. “There were also a small number of Chinese who came to register,” he added.
He said the state government had asked for help from non-governmental organisations and the MIC to compile information on the matter. Dr Mohd Khir said the state government had also spoken to the Home Ministry to form a task force through the National Registration Department (NRD) to address the “stateless” issue as soon as possible. He said the NRD should handle the issue objectively and act quickly because identification documents were very important for the people. “The state government will help in whatever way it can to speed up the process.”
Dr Mohd Khir added that many did not register their children for birth certificates in the state because they misunderstood that their children could not get the document as their husbands had no identity cards. He said the exercise had nothing to do with the coming general election.
5,000 hope to prove they are Malaysians
By : Neville Spykerman
source
KLANG: A lorry driver queued up with his 28-year-old cousin for seven hours yesterday to help the latter get a birth certificate.
Gurunathan was just one of the more than 5,000 “stateless” Malaysians who overwhelmed a registration exercise at the Klang Municipal Council building yesterday. They came from all over the country. These are people who have spent their lives in a bureaucratic limbo because they have no birth certificates and no identity cards. Makeshift counters had been set up in Dewan Datuk Hamzah and manned by 100 volunteers from the Barisan Nasional Volunteer Secretariat and Klang MIC division.
Two officers from the National Registration Department (NRD) also assisted the volunteers. They compiled the names of those seeking assistance. Files on each individual, with copies of the documents he possessed, will be forwarded to the NRD. S. Raja, who brought Gurunathan from Rawang and queued with him from 8.30am until 3.30pm, said: “My cousin will have to wait for the NRD to call him and discuss his case. “The officers said they needed a letter from the clinic where he was born and photographs to verify that he was born in Malaysia.”
G. Vilas rushed from Malacca when she heard about the registration. She is hoping to obtain a birth certificate. “I have never been to school and I have no job because I have no documents,” said the 28-year-old.
Klang MIC division chief Alex Thiagarasan said the organisers were overwhelmed by the response. “We prepared only 5,000 forms, which ran out by 11am. We are printing more,” he said, adding that many of those seeking help also have children without birth certificates. “We want to ensure that no child is deprived of an education because of this.”
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said during a visit to the hall that the initiative came about after a discussion with the Internal Security Ministry, which agreed to set up a task force to help “stateless” Malaysians.
THIS APPEARED IN MALAYSIAKINI ON OCT 19 2007. No MIC Leader responded….
Samy Vellu and the Blue Book
Malaysian Indian | Oct 19, 05 4:31pm
October 12, what an irony. MIC president S Samy Vellu chose that day to make the accusation of the government failing the Indians. That was the day he became party president on the demise of the former president, the late Tan Sri V Manickavasagam.
What has he been doing for the last 26 years? Probably he finally just woke up from his dream of being president.
The late Tan Sri had a vision for the Indians. He organised the First Indian Economic Seminar and as a result the ‘Blue Book’ came about. It was a development plan for the economic growth of the Indian community. The Blue Book was a result of top Indian business, political and education leaders sitting down together and coming out with a plan for the future.
Most MIC leaders have forgotten about the Blue Book. Maika Holdings and MIED (Maju Institute of Education and Development) and others are a direct result of the Blue Book.
But the late president did not launch Maika or MIED then because he knew the community did not have the capacity to invest. He was waiting a better time when the Indians would be ready to invest without having to borrow and fall into debt.
Look at where Maika is today. Most of the ordinary Indians who invested in it have lost their money. Ownership of the shares lies in the hands of a few.
Let us take a look how Samy Vellu has failed the community over the past 26 years. Land adjacent to the present MIC headquarters was bought for a new building and extension of the present headquarters. Till today nothing has happened.
There has been talk of a new party headquarters for the last 20 years. What has happened to that piece of land next to the MIC headquarters?
Instead we have MIC leaders in one particular state getting pieces of land reserved for re-located Tamil schools or displaced Indian plantation communities. There is even talk of about five acres of land reserved for a Tamil school being used for party purposes.
The MIC which Samy Vellu inherited had been doing social work and there was a great difference then. Bureaus existed to deal with issues like student intakes, citizenship and employment to name a few.
The education bureau used to collect information on all students rejected by government universities. People like the late K Pathmanaban used to lead MIC delegations to visit every vice-chancellor to give more places to Indian students who had just missed the cut-off point. In fact, the MCA used to be jealous of the MIC in having this special privilege.
What happened to all of this? In his haste to make his hold on the party stronger, all such services were slowly ignored until one day, a former party executive secretary went to the extent of saying the “citizenship issue is a dead issue” although we still have Indians with citizenship issues.
We had one of the best social affairs bureaus then. We could have got better but the president’s political survival was more important. If we had continued, we would be doing better than Michael Chong of MCA. In fact, one former vice-president proposed the computerisation of all party members way back in the early 1980s.
Why is the president now again in a ‘fighting spirit’ over the Indian share equity capital? The party elections next June could be the reason. He might face the biggest challenge of his life. Maybe the deputy president is going to challenge him?
And maybe the delegates want a change to. To improve the welfare of the community, you do not have to roar like a lion but have a vision. Does the MIC under Samy have a mission and a vision? The Blue Book had one, but it is now buried somewhere and lost.
It is sad that the man who knows the works of Dale Carnegie well does not have a vison or mission after 26 years as a leader