Posts Tagged ‘Funds’

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Take up skills training

September 7th, 2009
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refer to www.jobsmalaysia.gov.my for Train and Place scheme, like those involving skils training such as below:

The Government will train more Indian youths in various skills to lift them from poverty and unemployment, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said the ministry, through partnerships with local private colleges, aimed to create a pool of skilled workers to meet the country’s demand and also reduce our dependence on foreign workers.

Dr Subramaniam added that the ministry had allocated more than RM1mil to Tafe College in Seremban to train 150 youths as mechanics and another 25 as installers for NGV systems, under the Train and Place programme.

“The 175 trainees will complete their training in November and will likely be employed in December,” he said yesterday.

Dr Subramaniam also said another 150 Indian students would be trained by the college in aircraft materials and workshop practices.

“During their four-month training, the trainees will be paid a monthly allowance of between RM500 and RM800,” he said, adding that more Indian youths, especially unemployed ones, should take up such training programmes offered by local colleges.

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Ganabatirau questions Waytha over HiINDRAF and funds

August 19th, 2009
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After Waythamoorty gave an interview in Malaysiakini (here and here), one of the HINDRAF 5 ex-ISA detainee raised some questions and allegations, mainly questioning the status of funds collected during the incarceration of the HINDRAF 5. How can they know that collection ran into millions? Bank statements?

Let’s see how Waytha replies. This kind of ding-dong war of words will reveal more and more dirt on either/both sides.  Each will accuse the other, but so far no proof from any quarters. I

Hindraf activist and former ISA detainee V Ganabatirau has accused the outlawed movements current leader, P Waythamoorthy, of using millions of ringgit collected from the people for his personal use while in self-imposed exile in London.

He said funds collected by the movement for the Hindraf 5 who were detained under the ISA, never reached them or their families.

“Initially funds were collected by highlighting the suffering of the so called Hindraf 5. From December 13th 2007, the focus was changed to highlighting the suffering of our family members. The total amount collected runs into millions,” he said when asked to comment on the funds

“My family did not receive a single sen from the funds. When questioned, Waythamoorthy,the defacto head, claimed that the funds were meant for a civil suit that was to be filed against the British government.”

But the suit expired as civil matters must be pursed within three months after filing which was Nov 29 2007.

“I believe that the suit was deliberately allowed to expire so that he could enjoy his exile and the good life in London.

“All our hopes vanished with Waythamoorthy when he did not pursue the suit.

“The public had high hopes. We only wanted the plight of poor and marginalised Indians here to be exposed. Not for the money,” said Ganabatirau (right).

Wayathamoorthy had last week claimed in an interview with Malaysiakini that the suit was foiled by the Malaysian government and police.

But Ganabatirau rubbished the reasoning given by Waythamoorthy saying that they could ‘never be accepted’.

“Why should he go for a pilgrimage to India on Nov 27 2007?” Ganabatirau asked, recalling the events that led the detention of five of them in Kamunting under the ISA.

According to Ganabatirau, Waythamoorthy personally assured him that the suit would be filed.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, the former lawyer also denied that Waythamoorthy was the movement’s treasurer. [i thought he was the leader, not treasurer]

In fact, Hindraf was registered as an business enterprise and as such, there was no need for a treasurer, he said

Ganabatirau also said the rift in Hindraf began after the suit failed to materialise.

“The started rift during my detention under ISA that led to Uthayakumar to accuse me of being a Special Branch (SB) agent because I raised the suit issue,” he said when asked to comment on allegations that he was a government spy.

Who is the boss?

The Hindraf leader turned activist said that he met Hindraf lawyer P Uthayakumar in December 2006.

Ganabatirau added that he actively organised forums and demonstrations together with (fellow Hindraf activist and former ISA detainee) K Vasanthakumar on temple demolitions between January to April 2007.

“Both of us played key roles in pulling in the crowds. Prior to our involvement, the crowds numbered between 20 and 30 people only .”

He added that application for permission for holding the November 25 2007 rally to handover the memorandum to the British government was organised by him and Vsanthakumar.

The suit against the British government intended to claim 1 million pounds sterling for every Indian in Malaysia since independence for displacing them from their homeland.

“Waythamoorthy contributed nothing to the movement except being named plaintiff in the suit. All the trips that he made was paid for by using money collected from the people,” Ganabatirau said when asked to elaborate on the current Hindraf chairperson’s role.

“He is a chicken. If there is a forum, he would ask me whether there were police or SB (Special Branch personnel) in the vicinity before coming to give a speech.”

He also commented on RS Thanenthirran’s involvement in the movement.

“Why was there no condemnation from Waythamoorthy against Thanentirran who ‘hijacked’ the term ‘Makkal Sakthi for the party. Both Vasantha and I coined the term.”

RS Thanentiran formed Malaysia Makkal Sakthi Party which made overtures to the BN government that led to the possibility of Waythamoorthy’s anticipated return to Malaysia.

‘Hijacked movement’

“Waythamoorthy also appointed himself as the chairman of Hindraf and appointed Thanenthirran and S Jayathas as coordinator. Who made him the boss? There was no election. Who gave him the right to appoint and dismiss coordinators?

Ganabatirau also added that he was also against the idea of Hindraf activists visiting the then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as it was Thanenthirran’s method of hijacking Hindraf.

“Don’t you see that he is discriminating and marginalising me and Vasanthakumar even as he speaks on the discrimination and marginalisation of the Indian community ever since we were detained?

Ganabatirau also questioned the motives of Waythamoorthy who is blaming Pakatan Rakyat for the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco.

“Whom does he want to please to ensure his safe return?”

Ganabatirau, along with K Vasanthakumar, K Kenghadaran, P Uthayakumar and M Manoharan, were key leaders who led 30,000 people in a protest rally against the marginalisation of the Indian community in Malaysia in Nov 2007.

The large scale demonstration in Kuala Lumpur led to the detention of the five under Internal Security Act.

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local cooks and barbers on the way

August 16th, 2009
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This is one of the good things organised so far. By relying less on foreigners, we are reducing social problems and also providing job opportunity to locals. As it is, restaurants are employing lots of foreign workers –  managers, cashiers, waiters, cooks, cleaners etc. In a way, it also helps to preserve our culinary heritage. I’m thinking that in 10-20 years, Indian delicacies will end up being “owned” by other races. Nowadays,  thosai, muruku, achi-muruku, athirasam etc, are being hijacked slowly.

Secondly, there’s an issue of wage. Locals will demand and expect better wages and perks, simply because their living expenses are higher than foreign workers. Employers will cite cases where locals are not able to perform as well as foreign workers, while workers will point to the wages and working conditions. While this conundrum exists, it won’t be easy to improve the restaurant industry.

Anyway, its a bit far-fetched to say that “Once they graduate, they will be able to open their own restaurants”.  Opening a restaurant is not like opening a a bank account. Need lots of cash, proper survey, planning etc.

As for barbers, this is a good field indeed. I know that some locals are venturing into this business, but there’s something to consider – which market you want to capture. There’s the “working man” market – no frills service for fees between RM5 – Rm10. Second is the “affordable” market – where more frills and services are provided.

I know that courses involving food and hair styling are offered under MLVK, Kolej Komuniti, and in private colleges as well. Perhaps more accessibility should be provided for these graduates to learn a variety of skills.

KUALA LUMPUR: In future, Indian restaurants will mostly have Malaysian cooks, and not cooks from India, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said.

He said there had been encouraging response from locals to be trained as cooks under a ministry programme.

“We hope to reduce the number of cooks from India in stages, especially in Indian restaurants, once the first batch of locally-trained chefs graduate,” he told reporters after visiting the CQ Tec College here yesterday.

The college received its first batch of 25 trainees for an intensive, six-month programme in June.

Dr Subramaniam said the fees for the trainees were borne by the ministry through the Human Resources Development Fund, adding that they would also receive monthly allowances.

“Once they graduate, they will be able to open their own restaurants,” he said, adding that the future was promising for Indian youths.

He said the idea was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who wanted the ministry to train local chefs and not depend on cooks from India.

Another training programme undertaken by the ministry was hair-styling, to replace barbers from India.

“We want the two sectors (restaurants and hair salons/barber shops) to rely less on foreign workers and employ locally-trained people,” he said

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SJKT Lauderdale gets new building!

August 12th, 2009
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Readers would have remember about SJKT Lauderdale which appeared in this blog last April. Today, Dr Sree updated us (via email) on the progress (or should I say success of this project):

Dear MI Club Members and Friend ,
Ear ly this year in January , The headmaster from the Ladang Lauderdale Tamil school called me requesting for sponsorship for their school annual sports day function . Due to lack of funds they were not able to proceed with their plans to have their sports day .
I went to the school to see the condition of the school which appeared to be depressing .
The school was build in 1947 . Over the years the number of students increased but the school building remained the same . 64 children were accomondated into this small building by dividing this building into 6 classroom , a computer room and school office . In the summer the whole building felt like sitting in an oven .
As most of you know , I brought up this matter in MI Club after my visit . We had several discussions regarding this matter . Many kind members from all over Malaysia , Singapore , Kuwait , Japan and even Germany responded in kindness . Some Sponsored all the new tables and chairs , Some sponsored new cabinets , Some in the form of revision books and also paid the schools fees of several students .
We managed to raise some amount of money in order to sponsor the sports day and it was more then enough . Members of MI Club gathered in the school somewhere at the end of march during the school sports day . We handed the money to the headmaster . It was also understood that the school requires extra classrooms to ease the congestion .
It was decided that we will proceed to raise funds for building of the classroom .
I met the berkat share holder who owns the estate for permission to build extra classrooms on their land . Their responded immediatedly by clearing the land making way for the building . The PPD was also generous by providing extra funds for the building of the classroom .
With just sufficient funds and with the moral support from all the MI club members we proceeded to build the classroom which began in early MAY . We were hoping to complete the building by JUNE but due to the weather condition , the work was delayed and eventually work finished at the end of JULY and the children moved to their new classroom in AUGUST .
The current classroom was designed with higher ceilling and the roof build in such a way to provide cooling effect to the classroom . Further the floors were layed with marble tiles to add addition cooling effect .
When I walked into the room , it felt cool and fresh .
The previous building which had 6 classrooms are now spaced out to 3 classrooms . We do hope in future we will be able to build another 3 similar classrooms in order to accomodate more students . The land for another 3 more classrooms has already been allocated to the school .
Taking such a huge responsibility was a huge task for me . It continously worried me .
I would like to thank all my friends especially MI Club moderator Jega and others like Poobalan , Sathia and Shamalan who continously adviced me on the proper procedures and also all the MI CLub members who never failed to give moral support .
Thank you dear friends . Without all of you this would not have happen .
Dr.SREEDHARAN PHF , MBBS, FAGE
This is just one example of how we can get things done provided there’s proper leadership, trust, support and commitment.  I have to mentionthat Dr Sree played a major role in this project. Myself , not even 1% of the effort.
Hopefully we can replicate this model successfully, little by little.

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KTMB approves land for school after 10 years!

August 4th, 2009
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 This news came out on Malaysiakini (July 28). The community which slogged for KTM in the yesteryears have to wait 10 years for an approval (and that too with the struggle of a political party). Syabas to KTM!  We should be thankful that at least they gave the approval.  Let’s give them full marks for the CSR.

The 10-year struggle by MIC to get railway land approval for the reconstruction of termite-infested SJK (T) Perak Sangeetha Sabah has finally seen the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel when Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) approved the application recently.

The wooden-double storey wooden building situated on a 0.3ha land along Jalan Tun Abdul Razak is in the heartland of the Indian community in Ipoh city and has an enrolment of 178 pupils.

Malaysiakini had recently highlighted this long-standing problem when the dilapidated primary school (right) could not accommodate the growing number of Indian schoolchildren in this area.

Today, Perak MIC chief G Rajoo told the media that all the pupils and staff of the school will be temporarily relocated at SK Buntong at the end of the month.

“The construction work on the new four-storey building costing RM2.3 million will commence on Aug 17 and is expected to be completed in a year’s time,” Rajoo stated.

Old school replaced

The old school, built in 1934 consisted of six-classrooms, will now make way for a 12-classroom new school.

On July 10, MIC president S Samy Vellu had expressed his frustration at KTMB’s refusal to approve the railway land for construction of the new school.

He is said to have wanted to take up the matter with Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat.

Rajoo (left) further stated that a total of RM 6 million has been allocated for the construction and expansion of three Tamil primary schools which includes SJK (T) Sangeetha.

The other two schools which will have a new extension wing each are SJK (T) Ghanthi Kalasalai in Sungai Siput with 10 additional classrooms and SJK (T) Tan Sri Datuk Manickavasagam situated in Tanjong Malim with six additional classrooms.

“Another eight Tamil schools will either undergo reconstruction or extension of the buildings,” said Rajoo.

The schools are: SJK(T) Ladang Beruang River in Tanjung Malim, SJK(T) Methodist (Malim Nawar), SJK(T) Ladang Kota Bharu(Gopeng), SJK(T) Ladang Batuk Rabit (Teluk Intan),SJK(T) Ladang Flemington(Sungai Sumun), SJK(T) Noba Scotia 2 (Teluk Intan), SJK(T) Jebong Lama(Matang) and SJK(T) Ladang Gabis( Padang Rengas).

Earlier, Samy voiced out his frustation (and he should do more of this so that the community can know who the culprits are):

“They have forgotten the sacrifices made by Indians who played a major role in the construction of the railway track from Ipoh to Padang Besar,” said Samy.

… “KTMB must remember that the railway track could not have been completed without the manpower of Indians. Many sacrificed their lives when the Padang Rengas railway tunnel was being built,” said Samy

“KTMB has conveniently forgotten the history of the Indian community’s contributions to the construction of the railway network,” he added.

He said there is a big Indian community concentrated in this area and more Indian children want to enrol in SJK (T) Perak Sangeetha Sabah.

“But there is not enough space to accommodate them unless KTMB gives permission to rebuild the school.”

Samy pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (right) had given RM100 million, and former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had allocated another RM30 million for the construction of 60 new Tamil schools.

The money is also for repairs and extension of buildings for Tamil schools in the country.

“SJK (T) Perak Sangeetha Sabah is on the list schools which is to benefit from the allocations, but KTMB is denying the Indian community the right to study in a newly-built school.

‘I’m going to speak Tee Keat’

“When we have the funds (to build new schools)… we do not have the land and, when we have the land… we do not have the funds,” said a frustrated Samy (below).

“I’m going to speak to transport minister Ong Tee Keat about this matter (KTMB’s decision not to allow MIC to build a new school),” he said.

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