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MIC focuses on jobs and homes

December 27th, 2007
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Typical election scenario. After waiting for 35 years, their problem can be solved within days!. All the best to the Rumah Hijau settlers. Hopefully others with problems will take advantage of the situation and make use of the politicians to settle their housing employment, education, welfare and other issues. This is the time. Make hay while the sun shines!
MIC focuses on jobs and homes

By Chong Chee Seong and Mohd Roji Abdullah
news@nst.com.my

MUAR: Addressing problems such as housing and employment are among key points highlighted by MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu during his current nationwide meet-the-Indian community roadshow. 

The works minister and his party leaders are working hard to solve the problems of the Indian community, particularly among those who supported the Hindu Rights Action Force's campaign.

"We chose places where the group got its support from. Recently, we held meetings in Teluk Intan (Perak), Kulim (Kedah) and Penang where we knew some of the Hindraf supporters came from. "We explained to them what we have done for the community and what we will continue to do," Samy Vellu said at the opening of the refurbished Pagoh rest area at Km135.5 of the North-South Expressway here yesterday.

He said MIC had mobilised its machinery to go to the grassroots to listen and find ways to solve the woes of the Indian community.

"If the problems cannot be solved by the party, I will refer them to the cabinet for a decision," he added.

One of the problems to be resolved is the issue of 350 Indian families in Penang who have been waiting for houses promised to them some 35 years ago. The group staying at the Rumah Hijau resettlement longhouse area was promised new houses but have yet to see any project implemented. They moved out from their area years ago to make way for the Mak Mandin industrial area project in Prai. Samy Vellu said he had written to Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon over the delay and he would meet him to resolve the matter.

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30 days since Indians united

December 26th, 2007
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Yesterday marked the 31st day or one month since Indians in Malaysia took to the streets to protest against marginalisation and discrimination against them. As a mark of respect for Christians who celebrate Christmas, I decided against writing about the significant milestone (unlike some who organise the General Assemblies on religiously significant public holidays and have the gall to complaint about newspapers not being delivered!).Even though 20,000 to 30,000 people were physically present, there seemed to be much, much higher number of support from nearly 1.8 million Indians and also other Malaysians who understood their predicament. From my experience, very few of the people I met talked negatively on the rally, perhaps less than 10%. From relatives to friends to acquaintances, there was words of support for the organisers, HINDRAF and the rally participants, and volleys of condemnation againsts MIC, the police and certain segment of the government.
What is clear is that the Indians are using the newly found spirit and camaraderie to jump-start their lives, with or without the millions from the British government. For the last 30 days, HINDRAF have been a topic over thosais and teh tariks, at home and office. There is a new born awareness against discriminative policies and citizen rights.
But how long will this last? The main leaders are behind bars, and HINDRAF is clearly not a political party will millions to spend.
The torch is seen to be taken over by MIC and a handful of NGOs who before this were quite invisible. The ordinary Indian is left wondering where were this folks when bad things happened to them. Again, how long the torch is carried by the newly self-election champions is left to be seen.
The government had taken initiative to spew statistics, make promises (without the word “promise” in it) and set up committees and panels; all the usual stuff expected of a government. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.
All the players are playing their cards now. The trump card is still with the Indian community. How well would they remember the water canons and tear gases in another 30 days? More importantly, how well would they remember the last 50 years when the candidates come knocking on their doors?
What can the Indian community learn from the rally and subsequent voice of discontent raised by themselves? How can they make use of this energy to improve their lives and to ask for their rights? What is the role of the individual? Can this rally be used to turn the youths into better persons, the women into equally important contributors to economy, the men into educated and matured citizens?
Can the community force a reduction in crime statistics, suicide percentages, and school dropout rates? Can they work together, with or without HINDRAF to make this country a better place to live?
HINDRAF has set the pace. It is now the responsibility of the Indian community to ensure the sacrifices made by the group is not forgotten and left to rot.
Let’s see how things are after the 100th day.

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staircase is house for Jeya Thilaga

December 25th, 2007
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The developed state still has people like this. In the city of Shah Alam some more!

Home for them is the staircase

By : V. Shankar Gane

K. Jeya Thilaga (centre) with her youngest daughter (right) and A. Nadiya on the right.the elder girl, at the staircase of a flat which has become their sleeping quarters after being evicted.

SHAH ALAM: A single mother and two children have been sleeping at the staircase of a flat here since Dec 16 after they were kicked out of their rented flat.

K. Jeya Thilaga, 36, is staying on the third floor of the flat in Taman Alam Megah with her 11-year-old daughter and her sister-in-law's 15-year-old girl.

With her income of RM420 a month, she has not been able to pay the RM380 rental for three months.

The owner finally evicted them from the flat and with nowhere to go, she just put her few belongings at the side of the flat staircase and they slept on mats.

Jeya, who was a picture of despair when the New Straits Times visited her, said she had nobody to turn to and nowhere to go.

She said her husband left her six years ago and her three older children also left her about a year ago.

She works as a contract worker at a factory here but as an asthmatic, she had to take frequent medical leave.

"The little income I get, I spend it mainly on provisions and for my medical bills. My sister-in-law's daughter is also an asthmatic. With all these problems I just could not pay the rental.

"When the owner told me to move out, I had to put my belongings at the staircase and sleep there.

"My neighbours have been giving us food and also allow us to use the bathrooms. To have some money in hand, I have sold my gas cylinder and am ready to sell other things, too.

However, all hope was not lost as news of her predicament reached Shah Alam councillor R.S Maniam and arrangements were immediately made to get her a house.

He forked out RM1,000 from his own pocket and arranged for her to move to a council home in Section 23. A council home is provided by the local council as a temporary home for those in urgent need of a house. The rental is only RM250 per month.

Maniam also bought her a month's supply of provisions and would be enrolling her for aid under the urban poverty eradication programme.

"I was shocked to see her and the children sleeping on the staircase and I hope she will have a normal life now."

Maniam said the elder girl was without a birth certificate and efforts would also be made to get her proper identification documents.

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mic, ppp, and ipf youth’s first ever joint meeting

December 25th, 2007
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When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When seeing the situation is bad, these fellows are now going into action mode. Where all these is mere acting, only time will tell.

Youth wings to tackle community’s woes

source

KUALA LUMPUR: The youth wings of the MIC, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Indian Progressive Front (IPF) sat down together for the first time yesterday to discuss and join hands in tackling problems faced by the Indian community. 

At the meeting chaired by MIC Youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran, they decided to form committees at division, state and national level to address the issues of temples, Tamil schools and job opportunities in the civil service. 

“Any problem which cannot be resolved will be brought to the attention of MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to bring it to the Cabinet,” he said after the two-hour meeting. 

PPP youth chief T. Murugiah and IPF youth chief R. Ravishankar were also present. 

“The opposition parties are saying that we have not done anything but who is responsible for the benefits enjoyed by the community for the past 50 years? 

“It is MIC with the support of PPP and the IPF who had fought and obtained land for temples and Tamil schools,” he said. 

Vigneswaran said opposition parties like the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat were using these issues to woo Indian votes. 

“The issue is not really who cares or does good for the community. I believe the Indians will not be hoodwinked by such tactics.” 

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Temple report task for MIC bad idea

December 25th, 2007
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Star, NST, and MK all highlighted the task given to MIC by PM, no less, to:
– look into the status of all Hindu temples
– submit a report on these temples to the cabinet periodically
– continuously monitor all temple
– submit to PM a list of temple that may be demolished due to various reason

 MIC will:
– go around the country to prepare report on number of temples and their problems
– identify illegally built and check their status (this statement sounds very confusing. identify ILLEGAL temples and check their STATUS?)
– check if there are moves to demolish or relocate the temples
– organise meetings with temple committees
– verify temple land status
– secure land reservations in new housing development areas
– seek registration of all temples
– ensure suitable alternative site is allocated before demolishment
– ensure no temples are demolished in the future (meaning from today 24/12/2007), and if need to be demolished, to ensure proper alternative site is provided.
– make sure no temples, either legally or illegally built will be demolished without a thorough check and discussions with the MIC

Abdullah had assured that the government would provide the necessary support in resolving any matters involving temples as has been the case before.

That seems to be a tall order.

My opinion is that such a task should not be handed over to a political party, especially a de facto one that is part of the ruling body. It should be driven by a government department or a newly appointed permanent committee that consists of various representatives from religious bodies, government departments, NGOs etc. The people seemed to have lost faith in MIC. to entrust MIC with such task may backfire on BN since the people may take this as the govt not listening to them. Should MIC be given a chance to redeem themselves? MIC, having a vested interest, may cover things up to save their hides.

Or this can be seen as a ploy by BN to push the ball back to MIC to handle it, rather than taking responsibility collectively. Since MIC is the one perceived to cause all this problem, let them solve it. If they can, good. If not, BN can still win without MIC. Its a zero sum game.

So, if any more problem happens, can we blame MIC 100% and by extension blame the cabinet as well?

MIC tasked with temple relocations, demolitions
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/76374
Yoges Palaniappan | Dec 24, 07 5:05pm

MIC has been given the task to look into the status of all Hindu temples in the country and will submit a report on these temples to the cabinet.

In line with that, MIC president S Samy Vellu will travel nationwide to prepare the report on the number of Hindu temples and their problems.

This "new approach" follows a directive by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to MIC to continuously monitor all temples in the country and to submit a report on their status to the cabinet periodically.

Samy, in a media statement today, said that Abdullah had specifically wanted MIC to forward him the list of any temples that may have to be demolished for various reasons.

"As temples are sensitive matters, a new approach is necessary to resolve them and MIC will take over completely this task," said Samy, who is also the Works Minister.

"We will identify the illegally built temples first and check on their status. We want to see if there have been any moves to demolish or relocate them," he said.

He added that he had directed Federal Territory MIC chief M Saravanan and Selangor state executive councillor Kamala Ganapathy to organise meetings with temple heads in their respective states.

The long time MIC president said the meetings would have several objectives, namely to verify the status of the land where the temples were built, to secure land reservations in all new housing development areas and to seek the registration of all temples.

"What is more important is that suitable alternative sites will have to be allocated first before any temples are to be relocated," he said.

According to Samy, a meeting to be held soon in Kuala Lumpur would be attended by 780 temple heads, whereas 870 temple heads would participate in the second meeting to be held in Selangor.

Premier's assurance

He added that similar meetings would be held in other states; with the third meeting scheduled in Perak and that he would chair all the meetings.

"I will scrutinise all matters concerning temples with a view to ensure that no temples are demolished in the future and if they have to be demolished, suitable alternative sites must be allocated so that Hindus can continue to worship," he said.

"No temples, either legally or illegally built will be demolished without a thorough check and discussions with the MIC," he said, adding that Abdullah had assured that the government would provide the necessary support in resolving any matters involving temples as has been the case before.

In recent years a high number of Hindu temples have been demolished on the account of them being illegally built, causing much anger among the Indian community.

The Hindu Rights Action Force has played a vital role in defending these temples, culminating in a Nov 25 rally in Kuala Lumpur over the apparent marginalisation of the Indian community.

Since then, five leaders of the group have been detained for two years under the dreaded Internal Security Act.

Hindraf's popularity among the community in fighting for the Indian cause has come at the expense of MIC, which has for long been held as the sole Indian voice in the government.

Many segments of the community have blamed MIC for being inactive in protecting Hindu temples from being demolished.

The new approach outlined by the government for MIC to have 'powers' to protect temples now is seen as being aimed to win over the support of the community for the party.

NST:

Samy Vellu to give report on temples

KUALA LUMPUR: The prime minister has asked MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to monitor all Hindu temples and submit a report on their status periodically.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also wanted the MIC to forward to him and the cabinet a list of temples that might have to be demolished for various reasons.

"As the issue of temples is a sensitive matter, a new approach is necessary to resolve it and the MIC will completely take over the task," said Samy Vellu, who is also Works Minister, in a press statement.

He would travel to all states soon to prepare a report on the number of temples and their problems. "We will identify the illegally-built temples first and check on their status."

Meetings with the heads of temples in each state would be organised. The Federal Territory and Selangor meetings would be attended by 780 and 870 temple heads, respectively. It was to verify the status of the land where the temples were located, to secure land for them in all new housing areas and to seek registration for all temples.

"I will scrutinise all matters to ensure that no temples are demolished in the future or suitable alternative sites are allocated to temples that have to be demolished so that Hindus can continue to worship. "No temples, either legal or illegally built, will be demolished without a thorough check and discussions with the MIC," Samy Vellu said.

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