Archive for the ‘Indian’ category

Sweat and tears created Indian professionals

December 17th, 2007
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'Sweat and tears' created Indian professionals
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/76152
RK Anand | Dec 17, 07 4:44pm

It is unfair for certain quarters to continue harping on the number of Indian professionals in this country, said Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) president P Sivakumar today.

He said certain quarters are using this to show that the Indians in Malaysia are doing well contrary to the allegation that the community has been marginalised.

"It is very unfair to quote these statistics," he told Malaysiakini.

Sivakumar explained that it is the "sweat and tears" of parents, and not the government or others, which are behind the creation of these professionals.

"These parents exhausted all their resources to give their children a sound education. There was very little government help in the past. It is the hard work of the parents.

"If anybody is to take credit for the number of Indian professionals, it must be these parents," he added.

Sivakumar, who was one of those who attended the special meeting between Indian non-governmental organisations and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Friday, pointed out that the current standard of living has made education an expensive acquisition.

"Without government help, it is very difficult to get a good education these days. It is a very sad situation," he added.

Things are improving

The MIBA president also said Indians must not forget that  once under the tenure of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, only one Indian student was given a medical seat in a public university.

"There is a down-track in every professional area as far as the Indians are concerned. This is especially so in medicine, which in the past was a traditional area for Indians," he added.

However, Sivakumar noted that the situation has improved under the Abdullah administration, with more assistance forthcoming for the community in relation to education.

"Under Abdullah, we are confident that there will be even more education opportunities for the Indians, such as scholarships and loans," he said.

In view of this, he stressed that the number of Indian professionals should not be used to argue that the community is fairing well in this country.

murder charge againts 31 detainees dropped

December 17th, 2007
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The drama is about to end soon. After nearly 3 weeks of high-octane action of creating mountains out of molehills, the story now spirals towards an anti-climax, with a predictable ending. Everyone will go back happy (except those 5 blokes) and pretend nothing ever happened. Status quo is maintained. Malaysians value peace, money, and things that does not need much thinking over street protests.

I remember that there’s a quote saying “melayu mudah lupa”. how about the indians? So far, about 80% of the people i talked to in the last two weeks clearly know who they are going to vote (or not) in the next election (hmmm…the may say one thing and do another!). the longer BN waits to call for election the better. time heals, as the saying goes.

Hindraf 31: Attempted murder charge dropped
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/76127
Soon Li Tsin | Dec 17, 07 12:41pm

Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail today dropped the attempted murder charge against 26 Hindraf supporters who were alleged to have gathered illegally at the Batu Caves temple in the early hours of Nov 25.

However two counts of causing mischief and illegal assembly against the 26 remain.

Also dropped are all charges against four students.

In all 31 Hindraf supporters were charged with attempted murder of a policeman and they have been in remand since Dec 4 after being denied bail.

Representations were made by several Indian-based political parties, including MIC and MIC and some Indian-based non-government organisations for the attempted muder charge to be dropped against the 31.

Uthayakumar arrested this morning

December 11th, 2007
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Uthayakumar arrested this morning
http://www5.malaysiakini.com/news/75895
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Dec 11, 07 10:18am

Lawyer P Uthayakumar was arrested this morning in Bangsar and taken to the Jalan Duta Sessions Courts in Kuala Lumpur.

His fiancee S Indradevi who was with him during the arrest told Malaysiakini that Uthayakumar was not informed of the reason of his arrest.

She said two police cars stopped Uthayakumar’s car at about 9.20am opposite the Bangsar Shopping Complex and four plainclothes policemen rushed at him before grabbing him.

“They just told us that he was being taken to Jalan Duta. I was really scared. I am still trembling in fear from what happened this morning,” she said by telephone.

Lawyer M Manoharan said the arrest could be related to Uthayakumar’s role in the rally organised by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) on Nov 25.

“I believed he will be charged for illegal assembly. There could be more arrests coming later in the day,” he said when contacted.

At the same time, Manoharan is also not ruling out a charge under the Sedition Act for Uthayakumar, over a speech he had made in July at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. This was Hindraf’s first public gathering.

Uthayakumar is Hindraf’s legal adviser. The rally – to highlight the marginalisation of the Indian Malaysian community – attracted about 30,000 people.

Last week, 31 of the protesters were charged with the attempted murder of a policeman. They were also charged with causing mischief. Sixteen of them were charged with illegal gathering as well.

Another round of arrests has been threatened by the police.

Uthayakumar and two other Hindraf leaders – P Waythamoorthy and V Ganabatirau – are currently out on bail on a sedition charge. Yesterday, the Shah Alam High Court ruled that the discharge order for the trio made two weeks ago was made in error.

Datin Paduka Mother Mangalam and Datuk Komala

December 11th, 2007
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Today being Sultan of Selangor's birthday, the list of award recipients includes Mother Mangalam, Sister Enda, and also Komala Devi. The latter is given Datukship while the others are award Datin Paduka titles. Excerpts from the news article below.

Selangor Sultan's Birthday: Mangalam and Sister Enda on honours list
Neville Spykerman
source

KLANG: Social worker Mother Mangalam Iyaswamy Iyer and former principal Sister Enda Ryan will be conferred the Dato' Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) today.

The title, which carries the title of Datin Paduka for women, will be awarded by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah in conjunction with his 62nd birthday.

Mangalam, 81, is the president of the Pure Life Society and Enda, 79, is the founder and first principal of the Assunta Secondary School.

The sultan will be awarding only 34 Datukships.

Mangalam was born on May 17, 1926 in Singapore and educated at the Raffles Girls School and the Saradhamani Girls School.

She was conferred the honorary title of "Mother" by the Pure Life Society board in 1986, because she has been a mother to numerous orphans and underprivileged children who came to the society.

Sister Enda was born Eileen Philomena Ryan, in a village called Galbally in Limerick County, Ireland.

She entered the convent after finishing school at 18 and joined the Order of the Franciscan Missionary of Mary. She arrived in Malaya in 1954.

She was conferred Tokoh Guru Selangor in 1990 and was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts degree by the National University of Ireland, Galway, for her contribution to education in Malaysia in 2005.
….

Fifteen people will receive the Dato' Paduka Mahkota Selangor (DPMS) which carries the title Datuk for men and Datin Paduka for women.

Also receiving the award are state legal adviser Datuk Zauyah Be Loth Khan, Education Ministry parliamentary secretary P. Komala Devi and International Islamic University law faculty dean Professor Datuk Dr Zaleha Kamaruddin.

Samy Vellu provides statistics on community

December 9th, 2007
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1. indians form 6% of university intake for 2007. does it show a downtrend or an uptrend? Can a graph showing the intake for last 30 years be provided? The same should be for all races so that we can nip any reduction of intakes as soon as possible.

2. "Many schools have been built for the community". Tamil school or national school? i thought the number of tamil schools is still at 523.

3. there was a slow increase in the present 1.2% ownership of share capital of limited companies because many Indians believed in investing in property and not in the share market. “Investing in property is also a good move as the price of property will appreciate,” – How true is this? does this mean that an abnormal number of indians are investing in properties as compared to others?

4. "46,054 Indians were employed in the public sector with another 3,642 in the police force". – That is about 4.18% (if govt staff is 1.1million). these 46,054 indians are at what levels and ranks? how about intake rate per year? increasing or reducing?

if the household income and unemployment rate is as stated, then it is a good thing indeed. in face of the adversity and imbalance in many areas, the community has struggled and improved their living conditions to a certain extent. By the way, what is the source of all these numbers? 🙂

NST: Samy Vellu: Indian community doing well

source

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC president quoted hard figures yesterday to show that contrary to what Hindraf says, the Indian community is doing well. 

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said that close to 12 per cent of the working Indian population are professionals or are in managerial positions. And many more could join them, as 2,447 Indians have enrolled in public universities this year.

Samy Vellu was responding to questions on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), and its allegations that Indians in the country were facing ethnic cleansing, after the opening of the International Convention of Nagarathars. Some 650 Chettiars are attending the three-day conference.

Pressed to comment on whether he had made any effort towards a dialogue with the Hindraf leaders, Samy Vellu said: “I attempted on a few occasions to ask them to sit down and talk with us, but they do not want to. They have an agenda that is only known to them.” 
 

Samy Vellu said that Malaysian Indians could gauge for themselves how far they have come with the support of the government. He added that the Indian students who got placements in local universities this year represent six per cent of the 40,116 students who were enrolled this year.  Currently, Indians make up about eight per cent of the population.

And of the 847,900 Indians in the workforce, 46,054, or 5.12 per cent, are in the civil service. The unemployment rate among Indians is at 3.1 per cent. The national average is about 3.4 per cent. “We are also getting some help from the government for the AIMST Medical College in Sungai Petani. Many schools have been built for the community and funds are continuously allocated to upgrade the older schools,” he said.

He added that the government’s commitment to the Indian community is clear from the fact that under the microcredit scheme RM40 million has been budgeted for loans to Indians. “The aim is to create at least 5,000 Indian small businessmen under the Ninth Malaysia Plan,” he said, adding that many squatter families are now housed in government flats. He explained that the decision was made to rent out the units for five to six years, rather than sell them immediately to the occupants, to prevent those eligible for the homes selling for a quick gain. After that, a decision will be made as to whether the occupants can buy the unit.

Commenting on the convention, he said Malaysians could learn a lot about entrepreneurship from the Chettiar community, as they are known to be business savvy. The chairman of the Law Commission of India Dr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Ashok Kantha also attended the opening of the convention.

THE STAR: Malaysian Indians have achieved much, more needed

source

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Indians have achieved progress in various fields over the last 50 years, although more needs to be done to make them competitive in the face of globalised realities, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said here. 

He said more than 80% of them were concentrated in urban areas compared to 60% that previously lived and worked in the estates. “This migration has provided better incomes for the Indian families,” he said in a statement Sunday. 

He said 847,900 Indians were in the workforce currently, 11.5% of them professionals and managers, 19.4% associated professors, lecturers and nurses, 22.9% in sales, 4.9% in agriculture, 9.4% in craft and trade, 20.1% of them machine operators and 16.3% elementary workers. 

Samy Vellu said about 2.9% of Indian households were below the poverty line but the mean monthly household income of Indian families was RM3,456, compared to the national figure of RM3,022. 

He said 46,054 Indians were employed in the public sector with another 3,642 in the police force. 

On the participation of Indians in the economy, Samy Vellu said there was a slow increase in the present 1.2% ownership of share capital of limited companies because many Indians believed in investing in property and not in the share market. “Investing in property is also a good move as the price of property will appreciate,” he said. 

He said MIC obtained micro-credit business loans for 4,000 Indian businessmen over the past few years through Bank Negara and financial institutions. “We have also assisted in getting business licences for Indian businessmen,” he said. Samy Vellu said the Government provided business-training programs to Indian youths through the National Entrepreneur Skills institute while RM3mil has been allocated for business loans for Indians through the Tekun foundation. 

On education, he said 2,447 Indians were offered places in public universities in the 2007 intake.