Makkal Sakthi

/* September 26th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party has thrown its support behind PM Najib and BN for the upcoming Bagan Pinang by-election. Not surprising since the PM will be launching the party just a day before the by-election.

MMSP president RS Thanenthiran said the Indian voters of Bagan Pinang have much more to gain should BN’s yet-to-be named candidate win, as the coalition is the ruling state government.

“But if the seat falls to the opposition, it will be a waste for the Indian community there, because they cannot do much in terms of social, educational and economic development,” said Thanenthiran when contacted today.

“This (Bagan Pinang) is a test ground. The prime minister has made various promises to the Indian community. We should give him and his 1Malaysia concept a chance,” he added.

Thanenthiran said a MMSP delegation has met Najib twice – in March and in July – where the prime minister listened to their grouses and pledged to resolve the woes of the Indian community.

“We appreciate that he made time for us and he realises that something must be done – education, gangsterism, alcoholism and work opportunities – these problems were highlighted and he even took down notes,” he said.

However, Thanenthiran stressed that MMSP will remain an “independent” party, despite cozy ties with Najib, adding that the latter was invited to launch the party as the prime minister, and not as the BN chair.

“We are greatly honoured because our PM has an open mind…. We are the Makkal Sakti (people’s power) party and it is clear that this PM is a people’s PM.

“We are attracted to his 1Malaysia concept. This is what we are asking for. We hope by inviting the PM, we can get a clear picture of the 1Malaysia concept,” he said.

I think deep down, people will be happy if MMSP manage to get things down. However, outwardly, it seems like Thanenthiran is riding on Makkal Sakthi and Hindraf name for his party benefit. However, they must be careful to not end up puppets for either coalition. With a claim of 50,000 members, MMSP can try to do something beneficial, but so far, I haven’t heard them speaking on any of the latest issues – Kg Buah Pala or Seksyen 23 cow head protest, for example.

MMSP has an ally in ex-PM Mahathir :

“There seems to be a lot of support for the formation of this party. I think it is a good thing because we don’t want to lose the support of the Indians,” he said to newsmen at his Hari Raya open house in Seri Kembangan on Saturday.

When asked if the formation of another Indian party would dilute MIC’s influence further, he replied: “Well, I think the influence of MIC has already been diluted.”

Ouch!

Meanwhile, HINDRAF’s Waytha is not happy that the movement is being linked with MMSP:

Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Front) chief P Waythamoorthy is livid over news reports that attempts are being made to connect the strictly apolitical human rights and equal rights movement with the newly-registered Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP).

“There seems to be a convoluted agenda to draw similarities between Hindraf and MMSP and this is being encouraged by the powers-that-be,” said Waythamoorthy in a statement toMalaysiakini.

“It is strange that the prime minister agreed to launch a party which is not a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional. The speed with which MMSP was registered speaks for itself.” 

Waythamoorthy (left) pointed out that MIC, a founder member of the BN, has also warned several times that it would veto any application by the MMSP to join the BN. Admission to BN must be unanimous, while expulsion is by a simple majority. 

“The pair behind the MMSP were ordinary members, if the term can be used, of Hindraf,” said Waythamoorthy.

MMSP is headed by RS Thanenthiran (below), who is party president, and Kannan Ramasamy, the party secretary-general. [I thought they both were some sort of coordinators in HINDRAF]

Both men were active with Hindraf after the government crackdown where a number of the movements lawyers and a volunteer were arrested, noted Waythamoorthy.

‘Makkal sakthi’ expropriated

Explaining the differences between Hindraf and MMSP, Waythamoorthy stressed that the latter is trying to capitalise on the term “makkal sakthi”, Tamil for people power, which was made popular by the rights movement in late 2007.

… “Hindraf will continue to be an umbrella NGO for 30 Indian-based groups which agreed and contributed towards its formation,” said Waythamoorthy. “We are neither pro-Pakatan or anti-BN despite our support for the opposition in the last general election.” 

The thrust of Hindraf, according to Waythamoorthy, is to support whoever is pledged towards dismantling the apartheid-like structure of race and religion which has descended on Malaysia.

At the same time, he pledged, the movement will oppose anyone who wants to divide the people of Malaysia along racial and religious lines in politics. 

“In short, we are for the truth, regardless of how some people may feel about it,” said Waythamoorthy. “The truth cannot be politicised or sacrificed for reasons of political expediency.” 

Drawing a distinction between BN and Umno, the Hindraf chief vowed that his movement will have nothing to do with the Malay-based party, which he blames for all the woes of Malaysians of Indian origin and other Malaysians too.

He does not see Umno redeeming itself ever in the eyes of the Indian community “because it is too set in its ways and politics, and will continue on its death-wish path and implode sooner rather than later”. 

Elder brother has right to form own party

The MMSP, claimed Waythamoorthy, is like many other Indian-based political parties who want to emulate the MIC and bring in the Indian votes for the BN to shore up Umno in power “in return for some crumbs from the spoils of office”. 

“MMSP is not even a splinter group of Hindraf,” stressed Waythamoorthy. “Neither is the Human Rights Party which is headed by my brother P Uthayakumar and still awaiting registration, unlike the MMSP. 

“Uthaya has never been a Hindraf activist. He was only the legal advisor.” [This is very confusing statement!]

Uthayakumar thinks that the objectives of Hindraf need to be given a political platform, according to Waythamoorthy.

While he has no quarrel with his brother, he begs to differ since “Hindraf is not his call”.

However, Waythamoorthy concedes that his brother has a right to form his own political party to at least drive home to the electorate the lessons that he has learned during his years in detention under the ISA.

He declined to dwell further on the Human Rights Party,which he was given to understand has no links either with the MMSP. 

Waythamoorthy is in self-imposed exile in London where Hindraf has an office, in addition to India, Australia and New York.

The movement’s main work is to liaise with the United Nations, the US State Department and the UK Parliament. Hindraf is also awaiting recognition from the European Parliament.

It also releases the Malaysian Indian Minority and Human Rights Violations Annual Report at the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin and Pravasi Bharathiya Divas international conference every year.

The latter is a gathering of the Indian diaspora where Hindraf and MIC, among others from Malaysia, are represented.

I won’t be surprised if its all some sort of drama. MMSP may end up merging with MIC after Samy leaves, or it may bring in Dato Subra as a heavy weight.  Or it could end up like KIMMA and IPF, forever waiting outside of the coalition.

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irregularities during MIC elections

/* September 26th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Well, the group that did the investigation consist of losing candidates, so not surprising that they want to call for fresh polls.  Among the allegations: cancellation of handphone ban during voting and campaigning beyond stipulated time. From the way I look at it, its a no-win situation as the complaints will be discussed in the CWC, which consists of the winners and those aligned to the party leadership. Most likely the 7 will be disciplined  for “tarnishing” the party’s image.

A group of disgruntled candidates in the Sept 12 MIC party election have today pressed for fresh polls to be held as there were allegedly irregularities during the contest.

They have formed a committee comprising P Subramaniam, who contested the vice-president’s post, and six central working committee (CWC) candidates.

The Pro-Tem MIC 2009 Election Irregularity Committee secretary, N Saaran, said he had raised several issues in a letter of complaint sent to the chairman of the MIC election committee, K Vijayanathan, including the abuse of power by MIC president S Samy Vellu when the election was going on.

“We have come to (the) conclusion that the election committee that conducted the MIC general election was not independent, was not transparent. There were various irregularities that we have gathered.

“We actually sent notices to the election committee chairman, we had requested for explanation why such irregularities had taken place,” he told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Also present at the press conference were members of the pro-tem committee, including its chairman Subramaniam who lost in the election for the VP post.

Saaran claimed that the irregularities discovered at the election included Samy Vellu’s cancellation of the ban on the use of handphones whereas Vijayanathan had issued a reminder to all delegates before the balloting.

“One of the delegates was caught using the handphone to take a photograph of the ballot paper, this was brought up by one of the candidates to the election committee, however no action had been taken,” he claimed.

Subramaniam said other complaints raised with the MIC election committee chief in four letters sent on Sept 18, 23 and 25 were the actions of the candidates endorsed by Samy Vellu who had violated the rules against campaigning.

“Candidates were prohibited to campaign after 12 noon on Sept 11, but this rule was not followed by this so-called official line-up, there were campaigns after 12pm where there were campaigning in Sentul Curry House by the Youth, Wanita and Puteri MIC wings,” he claimed.

“And not only that, on the election day, copies of pro-Samy VelluTamil Nesan, were distributed to all 1,400 delegates in the hall. In the paper, you could see a lot of campaigning by the official line-up, which was against the rule on campaigning,” he said.

Subramaniam questioned why no action was taken whereas the MIC election committee chairman had earlier issued a warning that any candidate caught campaigning after the time stipulated would automatically be disqualified from contesting.

He said his group was waiting for an explanation from Vijayanathan before taking further action.

Asked what action they would take if there was no change in the decision, he said they would then decide whether to remain in the MIC or join another party.

K Saraswathy, who is a lawyer representing the pro-tem committee, said that while the MIC constitution permits members to take their grouses to the courts, the Societies Act would not allow it.

“According to Section 91 of the MIC constitution, an issue can be brought to court after it has been discussed by the CWC,” she said.

However, she argued that some members of the CWC were not legitimate as they were candidates who had allegedly breached the election rules.

In an immediate response, Vijayanathan said that his election committee did not have the powers to act but added that the complaints could be forwarded to the CWC.

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Kg Pandan Indian Settlement temple and school to remain

/* September 26th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Finally, there’s some news on the fate of the Tamil school and temple in that area. According to Star report:

The Kampung Pandan Indian settlement re-developmnet project involves the building of 480 low-cost units. Each unit will measure 700 sq ft – which is 50 sq ft bigger than other public housing units in the city and it is going to be more stylish.

It will have two 15-storey blocks and is estimated to cost RM47mil. The Hindu temple and the Tamil school in the area will remain.

Anyway, one have to keep the fingers crossed because things can demolished overnight. Just hire some contractors and thugs to “settle” the problem. Projects also can “evolve” overnight, and we have seen many cases where people were cheated of promises. I guess nothing much can be done, other than wait for election times to extract more promises.

Just have to put a bit of trust on the authorities:

“The relocation of squatters in the Kampung Pandan Indian settlement is only a temporary measure. Once their houses are built, they can come back and rent the units and eventually buy them.

“But for now, they must move out to enable the development to start. They have to trust us. This will be the first Indian settlement that is being redeveloped for Indians. We have come this far — just wait for another two years,” Saravanan said.

I hope there will be good news two years down the lane (and none of the stories similar to those mentioned by Samy that government didn’t do much).

Deputy FT Minister Saravanan meanwhile revealed this interesting information:

He added that the redevelopment of the settlement was the best thing that could happen to the residents and that two years was a small price to pay for the future benefits and the quality of life they would eventually enjoy living in a comfortable and clean environment.

“This redevelopment plan was never part of the local plan of Kuala Lumpur, which is why it is not listed in the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.

“When I was appointed deputy minister in 2008, the first notice to relocate had already been given out by the DBKL,” Saravanan said.

“I spoke to the then FT minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique and told him of the need for a permanent home for the residents and the government then agreed to provide a more conducive living environment for the residents,” he said.

So, was this place supposed to be left as it is as the rest of KL moved ahead into 21st century? Or was it a development plan minus the existing residents who are expected to vanish into thin air? Interesting indeed.

One of the grouses of the residents (oh yeah, the new term is squatters), is the distance of the temporary housing which is Kg Muhibbah in Puchong. Let’s see the situation and comments of the residents:

Saraswathy Gabriel’s house is falling apart and the makeshift zinc roof constantly leaks after a downpour while the wooden floorboards creak with every step.

The 36-year-old shares a room with her husband and three children, aged 10, eight and six, while the other room in the house is taken up by her husband’s brother and his family.

A few doors away, Letchumi Krishnan, 45, shares a house with her husband, mother and four children. The dark and dingy abode looks gloomy and depressing. The floor boards are broken and damp in many places and the window panes are missing. It was almost a similar scene over at the Nagalingam household, where S. Nagalingam lives with his wife and two children.

When StarMetro visited these families recently, it was discovered that most of these families are living below the poverty line and their biggest concern is being relocated to areas that will burden them financially.

The poverty line income based on the 9th Malaysia Plan considers a family to be poor if it earns below RM720. In the case of Letchumi, the sole bread winner in the family, she works in a garment factory earning RM700 a month.

Her husband is sickly and is unable to keep a job for long. The only reason she is able to survive is because she does not have to pay for rent or transportation. She walks to work while the children attend a school that is 10 minutes away. The situation is similar for Saraswathy and S. Nagalingam who both make about RM700 a month.

At least 80% of the families at the village are making less than RM1,000 a month. Most of them worry what will happen if they are uprooted to Kampung Muhibbah in Puchong, some 20km away. The rent and transport fees alone could cripple them financially. They also argue that the place in Puchong lacks basic facilities like public transport and a government hospital or clinic.

Saravanan said there’s still a chance for some of the really deserving cases (families who had school-going children and those who were sickly and required medical attention) to be allocated units in nearer housing areas, but there are only few units available.  The local MIC branch is helping to find places for these cases.

“They can still appeal as the MIC office in Kampung Pandan is still taking in appeals from those who have valid reasons as to why they cannot move to areas that are far away,” he said.

On requests whether they could be relocated to Seri Alam public housing sheme, which is only 4km away, Saravanan said Seri Alam is meant for the permanent relocation of squatters.

Meanwhile, Kampung Pandan MIC branch chairman P. Sritharan said he had received about 70 appeals from the residents so far, and out of that number, 15 families were recently given the keys and pledge letters (Surat Aku Janji) by the DBKL to move to nearby units.

“It was not easy selecting these families as priority for units located near Kampung Pandan were given to needy cases like single mothers and those with chronic diseases who require medical attention from nearby government hospitals and clinics,” he said.

Anyway, demolition is expected in October, hopefully after Deepavali. So, time is running out for the families.

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Kuhan mother waiting for 9 months

/* September 26th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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I wonder how many of us still remember the Kuhan case. Today the mother went to the palace to submit memorandum along with MP Kapar Manikavasagam and MP Puchong Gobind Singh.  She had been waiting for the criminals to be bought to court, but no news. I remember the AG office asking the police to do further investigation. Not sure what happened after that. Also, the recent case involving samples taken from Kuhan’s body being taken away from police also hit the papers. The court ruled that the police must not destroy or tamper with the samples, I think. Below is the news from MK:

Following massive public outcry accusing the police of foul play, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail reclassified the case as murder and a day later 11 officers from the Taipan police station were moved and put on desk duty.

Moreover, in April the police had seized Kugan’s blood and tissue samples, documents and even the second pathologist handwritten notes from the University Malaya Medical Centre’s Pathology Department. 

Currently, the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) is probing Dr. Karim Tajuddin’s professional conduct in relation to the cause of Kugan’s death in the first post-mortem report.

“Until now nobody has been arrested and nobody has been charged… on top of that the police have seized the samples,” lamented Surendran

Anyway, the attempt to pass the memorandum failed. Only 20 people or so turned up, mainly family members, politicians, HRP’s Uthaya and HINDRAF supporters. The police did not allow all of them to enter into palace compound to hand in the memo to a palace aide, but allowed only 3 people. The whole group wanted to go in, and so the police refused entry. More reports from MK:

Some 20 people, including the deceased family members and supporters led by members of parliament Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) and S Manikavasagam (PKR-Kapar) left the palace at 11.30am dejected.

“The family members alone consist of three people… what about their lawyer and the MPs accompanying the family? We too want to meet the palace officials when the petition is submitted,” said Gobind.

Also present were supporters of the banned Hindu Right Action Force (Hindraf) and newly-formed Human Right Party (HRP) members lead by its secretary-general P Uthayakumar.

Kugan’s mother N Indra, his sister S Garthiyaini and brothers Iswara and Shargunan were also present.

Distraught by the police’ refusal to let all of them to submit their petition, Indra broke in tears as her lawyer N Surendran and the parliamentarians tried to negotiate with the police.

She could hardly say much apart from demanding that justice be served and punishment meted out against her son’s murderers.

Gobind said he could not understand the “logic” of the police’s refusal to allow more people to meet the palace officials.

“Firstly, it was not our intention to go into the palace, it was our intention to hand over the petition to the palace officials outside,” said Gobind.

“We were there as a peaceful group, it was not our intention to create a ruckus… but the police did not seem to understand this,” he said.

He also demanded that attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to come forward and explain why nothing has been done in the past eight months.

“He (Abdul Gani) is duty-bound to explain to the public… I also ask why isn’t the prime minister showing similar concern in this case as he did in the case of political aide Teoh Being Hock, who was found dead at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Shah Alam,” quizzed Gobind.

“The entire country cannot understand why the silence on the part of the AG, who had already classified it (Kugan’s case) as a murder,” asked Gobind.

Uthayakumar added that Kugan’s death was just the “tip of the iceberg” on deaths in police custody.

“The behaviour of the Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid is not exemplary to the prime minister’s call for One Malaysia,” said Uthayakumar.

“While the government is saying the country will be more liberal by reviewing the Internal Security Act and Police Act, the implementation at ground level is not consistence,” he said.

When approached by reporters Abdul Bari described the group as being unreasonable because they had initially agreed to a delegation comprising three people.

“However, despite the palace allowing up to five people to meet them, the whole group insisted on going in,” Abdul Bari said.

…  The number of police officers, including Light Strike Force personnel, exceeded the number of the supporters gathered at the palace gates this morning.

“This again reflects the draconian manner in which the police are prepared to act in cases where they are alleged to be the suspects,” blasted Gobind.

Gobind said further that the police should not have impeded their programme as their petition was against the lackadaisical attitude in the enforcement authorities.

“The police ought not to have interfered today because the complaint we are raising is squarely against them so it is difficult to understand how they can be independent in this circumstance,” he said.

“The home minister should explain why a group of Malaysians in small numbers cannot handover a memorandum to their king… everyday you see tourists and foreigners taking photographs at the gates of the palace but the rakyat have to face a barricade of police officers to give a letter to king,” he lamented.

“We make very clear we will not stop here and we will return soon… we sincerely hope that we will be allowed to hand over the petition next time without any interference,” said Gobind, adding that he would be raising the matter in Parliament when it resume sitting on Oct 19.

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uncle, please help me to deposit cash

/* September 25th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions 2 comments »
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I was at a Maybank branch during lunch time, and a girl aged about early twenties approached me (called me uncle!!!), asking help to use the cash deposit machine. She did not know how to follow the instructions and worried will deposit the money into wrong account. I silently wondered why she didn’t approach the staff at the bank.

Anyway, I helped her to deposit the cash. And realised that the CDM did not have Tamil language version. Maybe that’s one of the reasons, others being illiterate or perhaps she’s just technology-phobia. Sad to see younger generation having this kind of problem.

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