PPP plans fund for tamil schools

/* June 12th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 3 comments »
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About three weeks back, Murugiah talked on creating a foundation called Tamil Schools Foundation. Now he talks about setting up a fund. What I don’t understand is why need to meet Prime Minister and Education Minister if money for the fund is to be sourced from donations from public and corporate figures.

Secondly, along with proposing such funds, PPP should also focus on getting schools to be fully-aided and try not to burden the community by asking for more money.

Not only independent committee, but a transparent-based set-up – from collection to disbursement. Nowadays, nothing seemed to be independent.

BTW, will Samy allow this or continue with his “sole champion of the community” mantra?

IPOH: The People’s Progressive Party is proposing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that a fund for Tamil schools be set up. It suggests seeking donations from corporate figures and the Indian community.Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Senator T. Murugiah, who is the PPP National Youth chief, said the fund would help schools in poor condition and lacking facilities. “The fund will finance the construction of facilities in such schools, which are suffering a drop in enrolment. The lack of facilities is one reason parents refuse to send their children there.”

Murugiah said the fund would be managed by an independent committee with similar committees formed at the state level to disburse aid.
“There is no political motive for setting up the fund. Our goal is to make Tamil schools conducive for teaching and learning, whether or not the schools are located in opposition-held states.”

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MIC team to study KL Plan 2020

/* June 12th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 1 comment »
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One of those instances where MIC announces something beyond the usual stuff. Hope something good comes out of the study. The “needs of the Indian community” refers to places of worship, crematorium and Tamil schools, I guess.

Its also good to notice that MIC wants to focus on poor people and students especially on housing matters. I would also suggest that efficient transportation, Internet facilities, waste management, crime prevention, and environmental issues to be addressed as well.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC has set up a special committee comprising architects, lawyers and professionals to study City Hall’s draft plan for 2020.President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said it would make recommendations to City Hall to ensure that the needs of the Indian community were addressed.

Speaking at the opening of the Federal Territory MIC delegates’ conference here yesterday, Samy Vellu said City Hall should ensure that housing developers allocated land for places of worship, including temples. “There should also be proper infrastructure facilities to conduct rituals for the deceased in their residential areas, especially for those who live in flats,” he said.

He said City Hall should also provide hostels for students from rural areas who study in secondary schools or colleges in the city.

Samy Vellu also urged City Hall to allocate flats for the lower middle-class, rather than only to those below the poverty level.

He added that the MIC was fortunate that it had Federal Territories deputy minister Datuk M. Saravanan to ensure their requests to City Hall were addressed.

Samy Vellu said even though many squatters now enjoyed modern and comfortable housing, there were still others who lived as squatters.  “We want an undertaking that adequate housing facilities be provided in areas nearer to work as well as schools when the people migrate to the city,” he said.

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Should EVERYONE change their lifestyle to reduce fuel price impact?

/* June 11th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 11 comments »
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I first heard the suggestion about reducing salary of ministers via an email sent to TV3, last week. And voila, the PM announces a 10% reduction in entertainment allowance for cabinet ministers plus limitation in vacation destination. This is being followed by other states such as Pahang, Terengganu, Malacca, and Sarawak. Sarawak even plans to reduce salary of its ministers, BN assemblymen, state speaker etc. by 10%, while Pahang MB hinted at 30% reduction of entertainment allowance.

Lim Kit Siang was talking about reducing more“why stop at just 10%” and asked to cut allowance by half, so I wonder what the Pakatan states will do. Follow suit or do something else? How will the opposition MPs show their support? Will they sacrifice more or will they just sit back and blame the government for the situation?

UMNO Youth  member suggests cutting 10% of salaries of all ministers, deputies an civil servants. Hmm, then how many civil servants will  be under poverty line again?

Looking at the responses on TV, print and online media (even Kalabakan MP Ghapur Salleh Kinabatangan MP Bung Mohktar acknowledged), the rakyat themselves are not fooled by this superficial reductions. They would feel that leaders should “leader by example” and not do damage limitation exercise by announcing such matters after people are angry over price hike.

I personally think that all ministers and MPs should be forced to use public transport. Let them ride in RapidKL or Metrobus, along our Indonesia and Bangladeshi workers, students, wage earners, and pensioners. Let the ministers take Star LRT or Komuter, and get “close” to the rakyat. Komuter carries 90,000 people daily, LRT and Star 300,000 people, and RapidKL about 400,000 people according to this report. Imagine the amount of PR the ministers and MPs can generate.

Ask them to return the government cars and just make monthly claims for transportation costs. Oh, worried about crime and time being wasted? Well, welcome to the real world! If ministers in other countries can take public transport, I don’t see any valid reason why ours can’t do so. We are not a war-torn or under-developed country. Our police have high success rates. Our citizens are polite and helpful people. We have first class facilities. So, why not? » Read more: Should EVERYONE change their lifestyle to reduce fuel price impact?

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dead detainee inquest postponed…8 times!

/* June 10th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 13 comments »
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 Wow! this would be some sort of record I guess!

8th postponement of inquest into detainee’s death
KUALA LUMPUR: The inquest into the death of Ulaganathan Muniandy was postponed for the eighth time yesterday, raising the concern of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).
Counsel James Khong, who is holding a watching brief for the family, urged the magistrate to speed up the inquest as it had been four years since Ulaganathan died in police custody.Yesterday, the deputy public prosecutor and all the witnesses did not show up, Khong said in a statement issued through Suaram.

He said the previous hearing on Feb 29 was postponed for the same reason, while the first five hearings were not held following applications for postponement by the DPP.

Ulaganathan was detained under the Emergency Ordinance on May 12, 2003, at the Kajang police station, where he died on July 21.
The Kajang Hospital concluded that his cause of death “cannot be determined”, although his family suspected foul play.

The next inquest hearing is scheduled for July 22.

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Begging successful

/* June 7th, 2008 by poobalan | View blog reactions 27 comments »
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Initially, it was well reported only 34 students got the PSD’s 2000 overseas scholarship, with 194 having appealed. Later, the figure increased to 72 Indians students, with 187 appeals. Now the figures are upped to 161 and Datuk S.Subra has the gall to say that is more than last year! He totally misses the point that the students had to appeal and MIC leaders had to BEG for it! Isn’t that humiliating enough? Or is this some sandiwara to show MIC relevance? I seriously hope not since the makkal are past this kind of drama already. They are smart enough to make use of politicians and party. Come election time, makkal will teach them a lesson again.

Hopefully those who appealed really deserves it on merit instead of qualifying under some sort of quota for MIC. That will make us look like handout seekers and quota-dependent like the the privileged community.

Anyway, one good thing is that all 9As and above students will get scholarship to study in one way or another.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Services Department (PSD) has offered scholarships to 161 Indian students with excellent results in the 2007 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) to pursue their studies overseas, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said here. He said only 120 Indian students were offered scholarships last year.

In a statement, Dr Subramaniam said he met PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam yesterday over appeals by Indian students unsuccessful in getting scholarships. On May 21, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu met Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan to appeal on behalf of 187 Indian students who were unsuccessful in their scholarship applications.

Dr Subramaniam said the PSD had also stated that all SPM students who obtained 9As and above last year would be offered scholarships to study basic science courses in local public universities and four university campuses recognised by the JPA – Monash, Nottingham, Curtin University of Technology and Swinburne.  He said the scholarships would also be given automatically to students who had obtained places in Ivy League universities and other similar universities overseas.  He urged all SPM students who had got 9As and above to go to the JPA website to find out whether they had obtained scholarships to study in local universities.

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