Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Since the ban was silently in place since January, now the sole champion of the Indian community has raised his concern. Never mind that the cabinet decision was taken during his time in the cabinet.
Anyway, SV is quite smart to include the small but powerful Sikh community as well in his appeal. That elevates the status of the problem to higher level, as just mentioning “Hindus” won’t be getting any fast response. Samy also mentioned that the it may cause a “major dissatisfaction” among the Hindus and Sikhs. But since election is 5 more years away, no need to worry. 🙂
He did say that he raised this issue in the cabinet before, but its moving very slow. Shows how much of importance is placed on things related to the community? Signs of no respect for MIC and its leader? Anyway, now its Dr S.Subramaniam’s turn to push for exemption.
Well, it will be a good effort to try win back the community support, but since this problem is of their own making, it won’t make the Indian come running back. In fact, I think the community has seen the true colors of the people in charge for quite some time now. It will take much much more than this to regain support of the community.
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MIC: Revoke ban on Indian priests
Apr 12, 08 8:13pm
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/81287
MIC has called on the government to lift the ban on the recruitment of priests from India for Hindu temples and Sikh gurdwaras in the country. In a statement today, party president S Samy Vellu said the temples and gurdwaras urgently required about 500 and 300 priests respectively.
“I have recently met Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar to lift the ban on the recruitment of the priests but I was informed that the matter had to be brought up at the cabinet level,” he said.
He added that Syed Hamid had told him that the matter concerns a cabinet decision so it is up to the cabinet to deliberate on whether it should be rescinded.
“I am appealing to the government to take into consideration the sensitivity involved as the priests are needed urgently to conduct daily prayers,” said the MIC president.
‘Major dissatisfaction’
If the matter is left unresolved, Samy Vellu warned that it could spark off “major dissatisfaction among the Hindu and Sikh communities.”
He said some of the priests were being deported or had their work permits terminated. “This has caused a lot of anxiety to the devotees and the temple as well as gurdwara management committees, and they have appealed to me to bring up the matter with the government,” he said.
According to Samy Vellu, he had raised the matter in the cabinet before but there had been slow progress. “I sincerely hope that the cabinet will review its decision fast and allow for the recruitment of these priests,” he said.
Samy Vellu said it will be a good move for the government to review the ban in order to win back the confidence of the Indian community, especially with tomorrow being the Tamil New Year.
