Ahmad Ismail, Nam Wee, Hindraf and Paranjothy

/* September 11th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Ahmad Ismail – UMNO member; spoke on by-election time about Chinese being “immigrants” during a campaign; supported by other divisions; a member also tore up Koh Tsu Koon’s photo; was suspended for 3 years by UMNO;

Nam Wee – wrote rap-version of Negaraku which insulted the Malays; not representing any political party,

Hindraf – asked for equal rights; special allocation for Indians; organised massive demonstration, belittled the government; 5 leaders ended up in ISA while another escaped to overseas;

Paranjothy – said Indians are “fourth class citizens”; was reprimanded by Gerakan’s disciplinary board;

It’s clear that in Ahmad’s situation, he spoke in his capacity as UMNO division leader, thus his party is responsible for it. The members of Chinese community who feel offended can make a police report. So far only MCA and Gerakan people have done so. Talk-a-lot DAP people – can’t seem to find them. The various chinese guilds should also make a police reports. UMNO should also take action against the person who tore up Koh Tsu Koon’s photo and also other members who went overboard Imagine if some local MIC or PPP leader did the same to UMNO leader’s photo. Most likely the thugs in political party would have initiated bloodshed.

HOWEVER, I’m looking for the full video recording of Ahmad’s speech because the Sin Chew reporters said they came when Ahmad already started his talk. Its possible that the missed his opening words.

Whatever it is, Ahmad’s defiance shows the lack of respect for his leader and only served to damage PM Badawi’s image.

As for the other cases – Paranjothy talked about his community, and did not insult other leaders or pick a fight with them. HINDRAF condemned UMNO and clearly said that they are not against the Malay community. Nam Wee got few police reports against him, but not sure what happened. MCA need no apologise on his behalf. I think MCA sent people to “counsel” him and the problem considered settled.

As what Prime Minister Badawi said – those who feel offended can take legal action or make police report.

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MIC’s Dajlit Singh appointed as Senator

/* September 11th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Taken from the Star:

Malaysian Punjabi Business Chamber president Datuk Daljit Singh Dalliwal was sworn in as a Senator before Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Pawanteh yesterday.

Daljit Singh, 48, holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of New England, United States, and became active in politics when he joined MIC in 1989.

He has been the Telawi MIC branch chairman since 1990 and Federal Territory MIC executive council member since 2005.

He said his appointment proved that the Government did not neglect the Sikhs.

“The Sikhs have been waiting for this moment and most Sikhs are from the MIC. This is also an honour for the Indians generally and the Sikh community in particular. It is an honour for me and the family,” he said.

Besides politics, Daljit also takes part in charity work involving the Sikh community and gurdwaras.

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Parti Sosialis Malaysia, the newest opposition party

/* September 10th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 9 comments »
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Parti Sosialis Malaysia PSM, who officially got registered recently, is the newest opposition party with a ADUN and a MP (Kota Damansara and Sungai Siput). They have clarified that they will remain in the opposition (Malaysiakini):

… it’s secretary-general S Arutchelvan had reporters and party members in stitches when he declared: “We will never join BN (Barisan Nasional), we can guarantee you that.”

The party will also cooperate with Pakatan Rakyat on a minimal basis and if there is invitation to join PR, it will discussed at its congress.

During PSM’s recent congress in Port Dickson, one of the resolutions proposed by members was not to join the Pakatan coalition due to ideological differences.

Speaking on this, Arutchelvan said PSM and other Pakatan parties have always had differences in opinion on economic matters, in particular the issue of free trade.

PSM has always been against the free trade market ideology advocated by certain quarters within the ranks of other Pakatan parties.

“We believe that the free market ideology is here to crush and enslave workers. We have different perspectives (from other Pakatan parties) on policies of economics,” said Arutchelvan.

Both the ADUN and MP (Kota Damansara state assemblyperson Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim and Sungai Siput member of parliament Dr Michael D Jeyakumar) will remain independent in the views, says Arutchelvan.

“They will continue to fight for justice and for the people, a belief that defines PSM. Just because we contested under the PKR flag does not mean we have to carry their views,” he said.

“We already sent letters to the Speakers from both the Parliament and the state assembly to have their party’s name changed to PSM now that we have the official status,” he added.

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HINDRAF candidates lose in DAP CEC elections

/* September 10th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 3 comments »
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A bit of old news – DAP CEC elections which happened on the same week as the Permatang Pauh by-election. NST carried an interesting viewpoint – that of HINDRAF being sidelined by DAP. How? By virtue of not electing two of HINDRAF ISA detainees (Manoharan and Ganabatirau – both DAP members) into the CEC. The duo got 38th and 39th placing out of 58 candidates, but only the first 20 are chosen to be in the CEC.

According to NST:

DAP gave the Kota Alam Shah seat in Selangor to detained Hindraf lawyer, M. Manoharan, in exchange for full backing from Hindraf to capitalise on Indian sentiments. The NGO also called on its 5,000 members to vote for the opposition in the general election.

It worked. Manoharan won the seat comfortably with a 7,184-majority, despite not campaigning even a single day’s (his wife campaigned for him instead).

But the CEC elections may indicate that HINDRAF’s efforts are not appreciated by DAP members. So claims, a person claiming to represent Ganabatirau. K.P. Samy, the main bailor for the 118 Hindraf members charged with illegal assembly and a friend of Ganabatirau’s and Manoharan’s, had high hopes of the two making it to the CEC.

“They only got 15 per cent of the votes,” he said. “Indians played a major role in the last general election. Hindraf played a major role. But these heroes of Hindraf were not recognised. They should be honoured. “We don’t expect victory but 15 per cent of the votes is like total rejection. We must send a strong signal to the party that it has to be racially representative.”

Two of the successful candidates, Kulasegaran and Dr Ramasamy disagreed with KP Samy.

However, re-elected party vice-chairman Kulasegaran, who had 500 votes, making him the fifth, most popular CEC candidate,said Hindraf had not been forgotten. “They still got a sizeable number of votes,” he said, adding that DAP members were practical when it came to voting in leaders who could perform for the 90,707-strong organisation.

“In fact, Hindraf came about with the controversy in late 2005 over Mount Everest climber M. Moorthy’s conversion to Islam. When it first happened, who was the first to take up the case? “It was DAP lawyers, not P. Uthayakumar (another detained Hindraf leader) and gang.”

Ramasamy, who was elevated from international secretary to deputy secretary-general, said the party had always championed the Hindraf cause.

“The secretary-general of the party has repeatedly urged the release of the Hindraf detainees under the Internal Security Act. It is just that the party polls are highly competitive, that’s all,” he said.

A delegate from Kuala Lumpur, K.A. Ramu, also denied Hindraf was being sidelined. “With the two Hindraf CEC candidates in detention, of course, it was impossible for them to go to the branches and canvass for votes. At the end of the day, popularity matters,” said Ramu.

KP Samy disagrees: “Manoharan could not go out and campaign in the general election. Yet he won resoundingly. How do you explain that?”

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Update on Rajeshvari 2

/* September 10th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Rajeshvari’s saga continues with more confusion. If earlier reports mentioned that she only spoke little Malay, could not remember her IC, and could not provide details of her background, today’s Star quoted Rajeshvari as saying:

“I know it’s my fault that I could not produce or remember my IC number but I did give the officers my address and school’s name only to be told that these did not exist,” she said. She claimed she told them this several times in Bahasa Malaysia but they did not believe her. “I was never a bright student and left school at 13 but I can still converse in basic Bahasa,” Rajeshvari added.

I think conversing in basic Bahasa Malaysia is not enough nowadays. Any foreigner can pick up the language within months. So, its important to carry your IC, or the police report if you lost your IC. My view is that now, Rajeshvari seemed to blame the officials for not doing enough to investigate her claims. Won’t be surprised if she takes legal action against the department.

Rajeshvari who earlier said she did not want to meet anyone, finally met her mother and sister:

M. Rajeshvari, 22, who was detained for 11 months at the Lenggeng Immigration depot here for not being able to remember her identity card number, was reunited yesterday with her mother and sister, whom she had not met or spoken to for more than three years.

Her sister Vigneswari, 26, said the family had no idea of the troubles that had befallen her and were shocked when they saw Rajeshvari on the front page of The Sunday Star. “I picked up the paper on Sunday morning as usual and was completely taken aback when I saw my sister’s picture. “She had left home some time ago and we heard from a relative that she was in Kuala Lumpur but we had no idea she was in trouble,” she said at The Star office here yesterday.

Her mother M. Parameswari, 47, was equally overjoyed to see her daughter again. “Not a day went by without me thinking about her. “She left home with her friends and we did not want to force her to come back. I always believed she would come back and now she has. “This Deepavali is definitely going to be special for us,” she said.

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