Archive for the ‘Indian’ category

PM asks MIC to change approach for temple demolition

December 24th, 2007
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BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, MON:

The government has asked MIC to continuously monitor all Hindu temples in the country and submit a report on their status to the cabinet periodically.

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wanted the MIC to forward to him and the cabinet the list of temples that may have to be demolished for various reasons.

“As temples are a sensitive matter, a new approach is necessary to resolve the issue and the MIC will take over completely this task,” he said in a statement here today.

Samy Vellu said he would travel to all the states soon to enable him to prepare a report on the number of temples in the country and their problems for submission to the cabinet.

“We’ll identify illegally-built temples first and check on their status. We want to know of any move to demolish or relocate them,” he said.

Samy Vellu, who is also Works Minister, said he had asked Federal Territory MIC chief Datuk M. Saravanan and Selangor state executive councillor Kamala Ganapathy to organise meetings involving temple chiefs in their respective states.

Mega Stars Nite a flop?

December 24th, 2007
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I was wondering why there's no news on the Mega Stars Nite which was held on 21st night in Shah Alam. No photos in THR website while searching the Internet returned some photos at Galatta.com's site

There were many calls to boycott the show as a respect for HINDRAF and also to condemn the deafening silence by the Tamil Cinema industry on the 25/11 rally. The organisers had to promote in on Astro Vaanavil Bernama news last week. The organiser Maras said that profit from the show is to be used to start a center to nurture budding local artistes. However, the Indian artistes seem to think that money is for their new building and help needy artistes.

The tickets were priced from RM60 to RM300.

It has been three days and no news yet. Not sure about Tamil papers. But my source says that the only about 1300 people attended, out of which 700 were on free tickets (THR and other corporate sponsors). Also, it seems the Tamil papers boycotted covering the event as well.

Anyone attended the concert?

samy got booed

December 24th, 2007
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I wrote about watching Samy Vellu being booed during the Attam 100 Vagai finals, beamed live to other countries as well. Since I saw it on TV, I wasn't sure of the situation.

Mahendran's site has links to youtube videos as well. Visit http://www.bmahendran.com/?p=275

Finally, even Saudara Lim Kit Siang took note of the boos received by SV. Read it at:
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2007/12/24/malaysian-indian-political-awakening-must-not-fall-into-trap-of-being-tarred-anti-malay/

Anyhow, I came across article from Anil Netto's site, which I reproduce below:

http://anilnetto.com/2007/12/23/samy-vellu-booed-on-live-tv-his-days-are-numbered/

Samy Vellu booed on “live” TV; are his political days numbered?

MIC president Samy Vellu was booed and publicly humiliated when he turned up to officiate at the Aattam 100 Vagai 3 (100 types of dance) performance at the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) last night.

Sources tell me the crowd of 2,000-3,000 shouted obscenities at him including “po-dah” (the rude version of “get lost”) and he didn’t get a chance to complete his speech. One source told me he was surprised to hear that the women in the audience appeared more aggressive in admonishing Samy.

Bear in mind, this was a cultural event and not a political forum, so it would have been attended by a diverse crowd of Indian Malaysians – who have now become politically awakened as never before.

The event was supposed to be telecast “live” by Astro Vaanavil (Channel 201) and beamed to India, Singapore, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Apart from Astro, the media partners supporting the dance show were Sri Lanka Rupavhini (TV) Corporation, Jaya TV India, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation and Media-Corp TV12 Singapore Pte. Ltd. So Samy’s image in the region would have suffered more than a little dent.

Earlier yesterday, Samy Vellu was huddled  with Penang MIC division heads in a closed-door meeting at the Equatorial Hotel near Pisa, probably discussing the Hindraf developments. I gather that 40-50 outsiders, probably Hindraf supporters, were prevented from nearing the hotel during the day.

Such is the anger on the ground among Indian Malaysians that Samy Vellu’s political days could well be numbered. In fact, I would say he has become a major political liability for the BN – but then who else have they got in the MIC? Then again, it’s not any single individual that Indian Malaysians are upset about (though Samy is probably the focal point of their frustration in view of scandals such as the Maika fiasco) – it’s the whole system they are railing against: the sense of being economically marginalised and disempowered for so long (in the same way that many other Malaysians of other ethnic groups are).

If at the last general election, the MIC delivered 80-90 per cent of the Indian Malaysian vote to the Barisan, several Indian Malaysians I have met are predicting that this time the MIC would be hard-pressed to deliver even 10 per cent.

That may be wishful thinking – and an underestimation of the BN “machinery” and mastery of racial politicking – but all indications are that the MIC is going to suffer a serious setback at the polls. (It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out!) And that could spell trouble for the BN in a string of constituencies, especially in areas where the majorities were wafer-thin in the 2004 general election.

Meanwhile, Anwar Ibrahim has been hitting the hustings in Penang over the weekend, holding a series of talks and forums in the state. From what I hear, he has been drawing significant multi-ethnic turnouts at some of these events including a session with Malay and Indian Malaysian squatters in Bukit Gelugor who are facing eviction. He promised them that, if elected, he would try and do something about their plight.

He appears to be having some impact, working the ground. Have a look at this Malaysiakini videoclip to see the rapport he has struck with Indian Malaysians at this earlier rally in Jalan Kebun, Klang on 14 Dec attended by 4,000 people.

The BN has good reason to be worried. All of a sudden, cracks are appearing in the BN fold and the juggernaut appears to be creaking. Will Samy dare to show up at any other public event in the future? Stay tuned…

mic youth to go to the ground

December 24th, 2007
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the milder version:

‘Opposition exploiting illegal rally issue’

source

KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian community must not be duped by the activities of the group that is behind the illegal assemblies, which have in turn been exploited by the opposition. 

MIC Youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran said the opposition had caused confusion within the Indian community to woo their votes. “The opposition leaders, especially the Indians, are also trying to use this opportunity to champion this group's leaders,” he told reporters here on Saturday. 

He said all divisional MIC Youth leaders had been asked to go to the ground to study the unsolved problems and have discussions with the Indian groups in their areas beginning yesterday. “I want a more aggressive and effective network of cooperation in the MIC Youth,” Vigneswaran said. 

He said this after chairing a two-hour meeting attended by about 200 youth members and leaders from the 19 Selangor divisions.  

Vigneswaran said all races had their problems, adding the government did not practise favouritism and would strive to maintain racial cooperation and unity in the country.

read the stronger version here: http://poobalan.com/blog/indian/2007/12/23/more-comedy-from-mic-youth/

samy wonders why temple was demolished

December 23rd, 2007
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He said Indians had taken part in the illegal demonstration recently to register their anger over the inadequacy in the implementation of projects by the Government.”Their anger is not because I had not raised questions about or fought for the plight of the community. We have done this many times and I have the documents to prove this if anyone says I did not raise these in the Cabinet,” he said.
[ so problem is whatever raised not taken into consideration? He admits that the Indians march for a correct reason?]

“I was angry because there was no order to demolish the houses, temples and mosques. They did not give orders for the temples and mosques. They only had an order to get the occupants to vacate the houses. “But I am still wondering why they wanted to demolish the temple first. I think there must be a personal reason or someone could have hated the temple,” Samy Vellu said. He said he would raise funds to construct a temple at a new site in Padang Jawa and hand it over to the people.
[looks like he is unhappy with the immigrant MB. Now, which one is lying, Selangor MB or SV? Why need to raise funds? Selangor govt said will pay for the cost already. Developer also agreed to provide land help shift. What is this…miscommunication or lying at the highest level?]

Below is excerpt from the Star today:

He said Indians had taken part in the illegal demonstration recently to register their anger over the inadequacy in the implementation of projects by the Government. “Their anger is not because I had not raised questions about or fought for the plight of the community. We have done this many times and I have the documents to prove this if anyone says I did not raise these in the Cabinet,” he said. 

Samy Vellu said he was not the kind of representative who would ignore the people's problems and “have fun” instead. “I work from the time I wake up in the morningtill 1am. Why? I do so for the betterment of the community. 

“Many say the community has not improved. I can’t believe this. If they say what we have got is not enough, I’ll agree and I’ll request more. I have demanded for opportunities according to our population size, not only with the current Prime Minister but also with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Hussein Onn,” he said. 

On Tamil schools, Samy Vellu said that he and MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting have been fighting in the Cabinet for a long time for all vernacular schools to be turned into government-aided schools.  

He said there are 522 Tamil schools in the country, of which 180 are government-aided and the rest are partially-aided. “From 1983 till today, we have rebuilt 76 Tamil schools. I don’t know whether some people have eyesight problems or those schools are 'magical' schools. I can see them but others can’t. At all times, Tamil schools are being built,” he said. 

Samy Vellu said he had asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not to allow any quarters to demolish any temples in the future. 

“Whichever temple it may be, no one should go to the extent of demolishing it. If a temple has a problem, it should be brought to my attention. I’ll visit the place and I’ll get the appropriate allocation from the Government and make the necessary arrangements to rebuild the temple. I’ve said firmly that only then can a temple be relocated,” he said. 

He said the temple in Padang Jawa was built on private land and the land owners had obtained a court order two years ago to get the people staying there to vacate. 

“I was angry because there was no order to demolish the houses, temples and mosques. They did not give orders for the temples and mosques. They only had an order to get the occupants to vacate the houses. 

“But I am still wondering why they wanted to demolish the temple first. I think there must be a personal reason or someone could have hated the temple,” Samy Vellu said. 

He said he would raise funds to construct a temple at a new site in Padang Jawa and hand it over to the people.