Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Malaysian Hindu Youth Council had their resolutions duly passed during their AGM (300 delegates from 150 branches):
1. release all those detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
“The council wants to see all the ISA detainees including the (five leaders of) the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf 5) released unconditionally,” said president KM Rasa Selvan when contacted today.
“If they are involved in any offences such as sedition or violence, then they should be charged in a court of law.”
2. ask government to create a deputy minister’s post to represent the interests of Indian Malaysians in the Youth and Sports Ministry.
“The Chinese have their own deputy minister and we feel the government should create such a post for our community, so that our problems can be addressed,” he said, explaining that many Indian youth are still involved in social problems.
3. urged the Education Ministry to revert to the use of the mother tongue in teaching Science and Mathematics, rather than continue with a recent move to conduct these classes in English.
4. called for an emergency motion to be presented to the United Nation to stop the atrocities against civilians in northern Sri Lanka.
“We are not supporting the Sri Lanka government or (armed separatist group) Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. We’re more concerned about civilians caught in the crossfire and in attacks,” added Rasa Selvan.
I’m interested to read the second resolution. There are few cases where MCA gets a Deputy Minister position, while MIC got a parliament secretary position. But if we got by one post for each race, we may end up with many Deputies. I think the Finance, Entrepreneur & Coperative Development, and Youth & Sports Ministries should have an Indian deputy Minister, parliament secretary, or at least a special envoy. This will be acceptable in the BN spirit of racial profiling.
However, all’s not rosy in HYC. The former HYC vice president lodged a police report on possible abuse of authority by the president and treasurer over the sum of RM200,000 allocation given by Ministry of Youth and Sports.
When contacted, the president KM Rasa Selvan described the allegation as baseless, while treasurer N Venthan would only say that all comments would have to come from the president.
In her report filed last Friday at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur, G Umadevi said the Youth and Sports Ministry had given the council RM70,000 on Jan 21, 2008 and RM130,000 on Feb 21, 2008 to finance its activities.
Umadevi – who has been with the council for 21 years – said the constitution allows the treasurer to hold only RM200 at any point of time, and that committee approval had to be obtained to withdraw sums in excess of this.
She claimed that Rasa Selvan and Venthan (left) had, however, taken out all the money within days of it being deposited into the HYC’s bank account on each occasion.
At a committee meeting on March 23, 2008, “they admitted their wrongdoing, but could not provide a convincing reason for having made the withdrawals”, Umadevi said in the report which called for investigation of the matter.
“There were also discrepancies in the documents they showed us, which indicates that they had attempted to falsify the records relating to the cash transactions.
“Both of them have failed to provide valid documents to the committee to show where the funds have been channeled, or to give a clear explanation as to how the money has been utilised. This has raised the suspicions of the committee members.
“The monthly accounts they presented to the committee did not correlate with the bank statements. This led us to believe that they have misused their authority to further their own interests.”
Umadevi (left), 37, told Malaysiakini today that she and vice-president II M Kanan had raised questions about the procedural irregularities and use of the money.
“However, the president suspended us from our post last Friday because of this. We only had the interests of the Indian community at heart in raising this matter,” she said.
The two veeps had lodged similar but separate reports with the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Registrar of Societies last month.
At the HYC’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday, delegates picked up on the issue.
Secretary-general V Vijayan (right) confirmed this when contacted, saying that the treasurer had explained the matter, albeit without revealing the specific beneficiaries of the RM200,000.
“I think we require further clarification from the treasurer,” he said, adding delegates from 150 branches nationwide – except those in Sabah – had attended the AGM.
Denying the allegations, Rasa Selvan claimed that the 300 delegates had “wholeheartedly accepted the explanation given by the treasurer and myself”.“The money has been spent according to the guidelines stipulated by the ministry when the council was formed. It was used for Hindu welfare clubs, poor students and sports organisations. There was no wrongdoing,” he said.
Rasa Selvan (left) claimed to know who was behind the allegations and said the two involved “have been sacked” and that delegates had endorsed the move.
He also claimed that the committee, at its meeting in March, had accepted the explanation. He further denied that the office bearers are being investigated by the authorities.
Umadevi, however, voiced her fears that the delegates had been “bought over”.
The council was created 59 years ago to promote the physical and cultural well being of Hindu youth.
Are there any Indian or Hindu organisations that don’t have:
i) a police report lodged against them
ii) a financial scandal against them
Probably those that had never done any activity at all 🙂
Well, not all police reports or scandals are found to be true. Let’s see how HYC ends up.
