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Thaipusam videos from Youtube
/* January 31st, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email
Thaipusam 2010 at Batu Caves
/* January 30th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions 2 comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email  |
| From Thaipusam 2010 |
Its Thaipusam, the religious festival to celebrate Lord Muruga!
Like most of the previous year, we planned to visit Batu Caves. We left home at 6.10am and arrived at Bat Caves at around 6.40am. Parking took another few minutes and there traffic jam was after taking the roundabout from Jalan Kuching.
While driving past the entrance (on MRR2), we can see that the crowd was more than last year, since we usually go to Batu Caves early morning around the same time. In fact the stairs were packed with people.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
An ugly sight greeted me as I was looking for parking. Few youths and adults were chatting with beer bottles in the hands while waiting near their car.
Parked car on the flyover. The slip road leading to Petronas after Batu Caves was closed.
The stalls were located below the new dedicated ramp which crosses the river and railway track. The ramp was closed to vehicles to allow the kavadi and kudam bearers walk through. If not, the devotees have to take a risky (but shorter) route crossing the railway track.
The venue where Brahma Kumaris and Nestle stalls were usually located was replaced with the cancelled state government’s Fiesta Deepavali banners. Brahma Kumaris stall is now located beneath the ramp.
Did the mudi kanikai at one of the stall below the new ramp, and proceeded to walk back to the temple compound.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
Lots of nursing colleges set up booths, providing eye candy for the youths. I saw Winfield, Nirwana (with Putera MIC), MAHSA and MAsterskill (if I’m not mistaken).
We started walking into the temple compound at 7.35am. Compared to last year, there were not ropes to demarcate the lines. So, it was a bit of free flow.
Lots of rubbish around and its not even 8am! All rubbish bins were overloaded.
Police moved in groups of 2,3 and 4. But I don’t think there were 1000 policemen there. There were also RELA and FRU, apart from the St John members and temple volunteers.
Took us 40 minutes from compound entrance till the top of the stairs. The middle lane was allocated for kavadis, while the left lane for people going up. However, since the top was crowded, many people were coming down using left lane, thus making the journey more difficult.
The signboards for Paal Kudam, Archanai, and Kavadi were only found at about 50 metres in the cave. And the paal kudam queue was long! It would have been better if the notices were put up earlier along the cave or even from the compound itself so that the crowd could be segregated earlier.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
We prayed for around 30 minutes or so and made our way down. The trip down was slow since the crowd was huge and lots of kavadis were going down the stairs after fulfilling their penance.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
Something else that’s make a comeback this time is beggars. I saw a family that looked like foreigners sitting near the cave entrance.
Read the bottom of the stairs at around 9.15am. We spent another 15 minutes taking some shots and watching the kavadis. It was getting hot, and as usual, we didn’t waste time milling around the stalls.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
Left Batu caves around 10am, using MRR2 towards Sentul/Gombak. The other side of the highway was jammed. There’s the new DUKE highway along MRR2 that gives you access to Jalan Duta, Jalan Kuching etc (Toll is RM2). Reached Puchong within 40 minutes.
BTW, the management office looks new (and expensive). I wonder if its really necessary. Maybe the money could have been put to better use, like giant LCD display screens, proper signages and more dustbins.
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| From Thaipusam 2010 |
And quite a few banners mentioning Nadarajah’s name in a weird way. It kind of separates him (as the chairman) from the committee. Looks like exercise in self-promotion.
News coverage on Tv2 (Tamil news) and Tv3 (Buletin) showed the visitors quite happy with the improvements done this year. Those interviewed said that it was easier to fulfill their vows.
Read about last year’s Thaipusam article here: 2009.
Temple relocation hampering school construction
/* January 28th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email This should be a simple process. Since its for a good cause, the temple authorities should accept the proposal by the developer if the terms like land, relocation cost, building costs etc are acceptable. I assume the temple was there before the land was allocated to the school construction. So what is the problem until can’t solve this issue since 2004? Is the suggested land near sewerage area or too small? Relocation cost not enough?
Hopefully the problem will be solved soon.
The state Education Department has called for cooperation from political parties and local Indian community to expedite the relocation of an illegally-built Hindu temple to allow the completion of a secondary school in Johor Bahru.
Its deputy director Markom Giran said the school SMK) Nusa Damai was now almost 100 completed except for the school field due to the presence of the temple.
“All infrastructures including classroom blocks and hostels have been completed but due to the presence of the temple, the contractor is unable to complete the school field, which is the last infrastructure to be built before the school can be handed over to the department,” he told Bernama.
He said that the negotiation to relocate the temple started in 2004 but there were no solutions yet.
Markom said he was made to understand that housing developer Nusa Damai had offered an alternative site for the temple not far from the existing one.
He hoped that the issue could be resolved soon as the school could help solve congestions in schools nearby such as Sekolah Menengah Kota Masai and Sm Taman Cendana which had 3,200 students and 2,800 students respectively.
“When SMK Nusa Damai is opened, 600 students from SM Kota Masai and between 300 and 600 students of SM Taman Cendana will be
transferred to the new school, thus easing congestion in the two schools,” he said.He added that SMK Nusa Damai would have the capacity of 1,600 students while the hostels would be able to house 200 students.
“We hope the issue can be resolved amicably as soon as possible,” he said.
Selangor MB ratings drop
/* January 28th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the MB. His ratings dropped 8 points in last 6 months, while the state government itself dropped 4 points. Blaming it on mainstream media may be considered as trivial. The state have nearly two years now, and people can’t be easily swayed by media. If the work is done properly, then support will be there. Selangor being one of the most advanced state surely has lots of people with access to Internet and alternative media. The state government may be running out of excuses soon.
According to a Merdeka Centre poll, the MB’s approval rating has dropped eight points in recent months – from a high of 62 percent in June 2009 to 54 percent in January this year.
The survey comes hot in the heels of recent claims of rampant dissatisfaction in the state with Khalid’s rule.
However, interestingly the approval rating for the state government has remained quite strong – it stands at 60 percent, only losing ground slightly from 64 percent in June 2009.
The survey was revealed today in a close-door discussion on the public perception towards the Pakatan Rakyat state government at a Pakatan Rakyat retreat in Subang Jaya.
Sources said Khalid strutted his usual corporate savvy by stressing the need to serve Selangor’s five million residents, or “customers” as he calls it, with the outmost efficiently.
He also appealed to the elected representatives to win over the state public service institution in order for state policies to be implemented smoothly.
Speaking to reporters during a break later, the main organisation of the retreat Yaakob Sapari said the surveys commissioned by the state had helped identify weaknesses in the Pakatan government.
An area of concern was the state government’s problems in communicating with the public.
“Currently, the public mostly subscribe to the mainstream media, as such information from the government does not get through. Only a few actually use the alternative media,” he said.
“This is something that we must address to make sure that our message gets through to the public”.
PR stage to be removed at Batu Caves
/* January 28th, 2010 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Kesian! But I don’t think PM Najib was supposed to visit on Sunday afternoon, more than 24 hours after Thaipusam since there’s nothing much but rubbish to see after Thaipusam is over.
Police have ordered the Pakatan Rakyat state government to remove a stage set up at Batu Caves for celebrations on the eve of Thaipusam tomorrow despite prior approval from the authorities.
Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar told The Malaysian Insider he had been informed that this was because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was scheduled to visit Batu Caves at 9pm tomorrow.
“This is totally unfair, I had met the Gombak Police chief earlier this week at the Selayang Municipal Council and there was no problem.”
Xavier said tomorrow’s celebrations, which starts at 10.30pm, is part of the Selangor Tourism programme which is being hosted by the state government and sponsored by Digi.
“Nobody told us Najib was coming tomorrow and he was only initially supposed to visit on Saturday afternoon.”
The Malaysian Insider is still attempting to contact the Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar for an official comment.
