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samy vellu plans MIC revamp

January 2nd, 2008
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"ella plaaaan panni seyinum" says samy vellu 🙂 that means "everything must be planned before executing".
 
seriously, this kind of statements makes one wonder if Hindraf is a success (to a certain extent). Just imagine if double or triple the number came, MIC might have even thought of changing its name! 🙂
 
 

Samy Vellu plans to revamp MIC

source

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC will be reorganised to make it more effective and efficient in meeting the needs and demands of the Indian community, its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said. 

He said the 62-year-old party would undertake a “cleaning exercise” to make it more relevant to the Indians. 

“The party will change its course to move more effectively to resolve the problems facing the community,” he said. 

Samy Vellu said although the methods adopted by the MIC have been successful in resolving the community’s woes, a more concerted effort was needed for the “more difficult and sensitive problems.” 

In a statement from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, he said the party would be managed in a different style with a higher efficiency towards serving the people. 

Samy Vellu, who is the Works Minister, is in Tamil Nadu en route to New Delhi to attend a three-day conference for People of Indian Origin (PIO), hosted by the India, beginning Jan 7. 

He said recently that new faces would be introduced to contest the next general election. 

“The people’s expectations have changed and we also need to make changes to remain relevant,” he said. 

“We will work in a manner that will benefit the community,” he said, adding that MIC understood the mode of being efficient by “doing the right things”, while at the same time, striving to “do things right”. 

Samy Vellu said education would continue to be the main thrust of the party this year, with the official opening of the RM580mil Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST), a university owned by the MIC. 

“The creation of more Indian graduates will be our main objective in 2008,” he said, adding that the party’s educational arm, the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), has been supporting 1,200 medical students overseas annually.

 

Making MIC more relevant to Indians

BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, WED:

The MIC will be further reorganised to make the 62-year-old party more effective and efficient in meeting the needs and demands of the Indian community, said its president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu.

He said the MIC would undertake “a lot of cleaning exercise” to make it more relevant to the Indians.

He added that the party would change its course to move more effectively to resolve the problems facing the community.

“While acknowledging that past methods adopted by the MIC have been successful in resolving the community’s woes, a more concerted effort is needed to resolve some of the more difficult and sensitive problems,” he said without elaborating.

“We will manage the party in a different style with a higher efficiency towards serving the ordinary people,” he said in a statement from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, today.
The Works Minister is in the southern Indian state en route to New Delhi to attend a three-day conference for people of Indian origin hosted by the Indian government, beginning Jan 7.

Recently, Samy Vellu said he would introduce new faces to contest the upcoming general election.

“The people’s expectations have changed and we also need to make changes to remain relevant,” he said, adding that the MIC had always been reorganising itself to meet the expectations of the Indian community.

“We will work in a manner that will benefit the community,” he said.

He said MIC understood the mode of being efficient by “doing the right things”, and at the same time striving to “do things right”.

“We will continue to safeguard the interests and rights of the Indian community in the right manner and right way,” he said.

He said education would continue to be the main thrust of the party this year with the official opening of the RM580 million Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology, a university owned by the MIC.

“The creation of more Indian graduates will be our main objective in 2008,” he said, adding that the party’s educational arm, the Maju Institute of Educational Development, supports 1,200 medical students overseas annually.

 

 

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maika revisited

December 21st, 2007
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flashback to 2003…maika issue

Maika: Bleeding Again
A case of noble intentions gone awry

by P Ramakrishnan
Aliran Monthly 2003:11

http://www.aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2003a/11j.html


Maika tottering on brink of bankruptcy?

Maika's accounts raise more questions:

1. Why does it take one whole year for the AGM to be held? (The AGM for the financial year ended 31 December 2002 will only be held on 30 December 2003. Normally, the AGM should be held within 6 months of the end of the financial year).

2. From RM125 million paid up share capital, the accummulated losses have come up to RM71.7 million. (The loss after tax and minority interests for the year ended 31 December 2002 was RM4.5 million).

3. The overall profit before tax for the year ended 31 Dec 2002 amounted to RM8.9 million. The only significant profitable activity is insurance, which made a profit before tax of RM26.9 million. Investment trading made a loss of RM12.2 million, property incurred a loss of RM1.4 million and manufacturing made a loss of RM3.5 million. How were these losses incurred?

4. The current liabilities is four times the current assets. The general rule of thumb for healthy companies is that current liabilities should only be half the value of current assets. This is why Maika is tottering on the brink of bankruptcy.

5. Provision for doubtful debts for the year ended 31 Dec 2002 amounted to RM8.3 million. Who were the borrowers or debtors? They should be named.

6. Directors' other emoluments(remuneration) totalled RM202,000 for the year. Do they deserve this? Why is there no figure disclosed for directors’ salaries?

7. Staff costs of RM15.7 million works out to RM40,000 per annum per employee at the group level. At the company level, staff costs (for 11 employees) averaged almost RM70,000 per annum per person! How much was Vell Paari a/l Samy Vellu paid?
maika (7K)
Maika didn't reject the shares

In its twenty years of tortured history, Maika investors have known nothing but pain and sorrow. The new dawn of a golden opportunity that was held out to the Indian poor never arrived. Instead, each passing year only witnessed dashed hopes and broken promises that littered the chequered history of Maika.

Touted as an economic vehicle and a miracle to lift the Indian poor from the shackles of poverty, Maika was launched with much hype and hope. The poor Indians – traditional MIC supporters, the lower middle-class and the working class Indians as well as a vast majority of plantation workers – were mesmerised into responding enthusiastically. Respond they did, some scraping the barrel, others mortgaging their property and pawning their jewellery while the vast majority took loans at exorbitant rates to invest in a venture that promised dreams of hopes and tantalising prospects.

It’s not only the poor Indians who responded to this call to rally behind the MIC's efforts to secure seven per cent of the corporate ownership for the Indian community – which at that time had been stagnating at under one per cent since 1960. Even the middle-class Indians who were wary of the caste and communal politics practised by MIC came forward to participate.

Incorporated on 13 September 1982, Maika commenced business on 31 January 1983.

A Phenomenal Response

According to Terence Gomez, “Although the original plan by the MIC was to ensure that at least RM30 million worth of Maika shares were subscribed to, so successful was the campaign to promote the company that by 1984 a phenomenal RM106 million was raised from almost 66,400 shareholders. The largest individual shareholder with almost 2.8 million shares was MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu. The amount invested in Maika was even larger than that obtained by the MCA’s Multi-Purpose Holdings when the company commenced business.”

What went wrong for a venture that took off in a blaze of glory? Why is it in shambles today?

It is a case of a noble intention that has gone awry through bad management, poor investment and sheer arrogance that brooked no question and refused to be accountable to the shareholders. If proper business ethics had been observed, if honest criticism had been tolerated and accommodated, if from the beginning Maika was run by professionals rather than politicians, Maika perhaps may not have nose-dived into the hopeless situation that it is in today.

In spite of a number of major acquisitions made into some important companies – like the United Asian Bank (UAB), United Oriental Assurance (UOA), Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC), TV3 and Edaran Otomobil Malaysia Bhd (EON) – Maika’s performance has been mediocre.

It registered a profit from 1984 to 1986 – the total amount was nothing to shout about and amounted to RM16.5 million only – which enabled Maika to declare three dividends which totalled 11 sen per share.

Telekom Shares: Hanky-Panky

There wasn’t any fanfare when Maika was allotted shares in Syarikat Telekom Malaysia Bhd (STMB). It was assumed in 1990 that Maika had been allotted all the shares it had subscribed to. No details were made known at that time.

samy1 (4K)
Samy: "They don’t deserve 10 million shares"

Sometime in the middle of February 1992 the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Telekom shares allocation was ripped apart. Then all hell broke loose.

A journalist from Watan disclosed that “there could have been some hanky-panky in the allocation of Telecoms shares to Maika.”

This was then followed by another report in a Tamil magazine, Thoothan, on April 1, 1992 which disclosed that there could have been some discrepancy in the distribution of the ten million Telekom shares allocated to Maika by the Finance Ministry. Malaysians learned for the first time that Maika acquired only one million and not the entire 10 million shares that were allotted to Maika.

Samy Vellu, through the Tamil Nesan and at MIC meetings, tried to explain by insisting that the cash flow problem faced by Maika did not allow Maika to take up all ten million shares. But, one of the directors, a one-time ally of Samy Vellu, Vijandran, issued a statement insinuating that the truth may not have been told.

When this matter was raised in parliament, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim disclosed that since Maika had stated that it could take up only one million shares, the remaining nine million shares were allocated to three companies proposed by Maika because to his “ministry”s knowledge, the three companies represented the interests of the Indian community” (The Star, April 30, 1992).Incidentally, at the time of share allocation in 1990, the Finance Minister was Tun Daim Zainuddin.

Maika Didn’t Reject The Shares

The mystery deepended and bewildered the shareholders when another Maika director, Pasamanikam, contradicted the statements made by Anwar and Samy Vellu. According to Pasamanikam, Maika did not reject the Finance Ministry’s offer and did not propose that the nine million shares be allocated to any other company. He further revealed that Maika had indeed raised a RM50 million loan to facilitate the acquisition of the entire 10 million shares even before the Finance Ministry had withdrawn its offer.

Why did the Finance Ministry cancel the initial offer of the 10 million shares and subsequently allot only one million shares to Maika? Who was responsible for the retraction of the original offer? Who lied to the Finance Ministry? Who informed them that Maika had recommended that the nine million shares be given to the three companies? Who supplied the names of these three companies? Who coerced the Finance Ministry to change their mind?

There was no earthly reason for the Finance Ministry to change its mind on its own after having allocated 10 million shares. Who aborted this offer?

According to Tan Sri G K Rama Iyer, the Managing Director of Maika Holdings Bhd – as revealed in his press release dated May 16, 1992 – Samy Vellu was informed at 6.10 am on october 5, 1990 that Maika had been offered 10 million STMB shares and of the probability of obtaining full loan financing and that Maika intended to take up the entire allocation of 10 million shares.(Indeed, a letter dated October 5, 1990 from Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bankers Bhd – AMMBB – offering RM50 million to finance the purchase of the 10 million shares was received on October 6, 1990).

There Must Have Been A Mistake

He further clarified that Samy Vellu replied that “there must have been a mistake. The offer to Maika should be for one million and not 10 million.

“According to Dato Seri Samy Vellu, the remaining 9 million shares were for allocation to “other MIC bodies”.

“Further, Dato Seri Samy Vellu stated that he would contact the Ministry to clarify the position.”

It was then, after Samy Vellu had contacted the Finance Ministry, that the letter of offer was retracted and Maika’s allocation reduced to one million shares.

Why did Samy Vellu prevent Maika from acquiring the 10 million shares? Wasn’t Maika his brain-child to raise the corporate wealth of the Indian community so that their economic welfare would be secured? Wasn’t he the leader of MIC which launched Maika as a business venture to enrich the community which had long been associated with deprivation and poverty?

This was God-sent wealth. Why did he prevent this wealth from reaching Maika? Imagine how much Maika would have made from these shares for which it only paid RM5 per share. When Telekom shares were “first traded it fetched a price of RM6.15 per share and that too during a bearish market. By mid-1992 the Telecoms share price was hovering around RM11-RM13,” observed Terence Gomez.

According to Ram, in an article in the Aliran Monthly – 1993:13(10) – by giving away the bulk of the shares, Samy Vellu had taken away from Maika RM120 million in profit (which it would have attained had it just held on to the extra shares until then).

They Don’t Deserve 10 Million Shares

Samy Vellu made it abundantly clear that he personally decided to allocate only one million shares to Maika. According to Samy Vellu, “I could have given all the shares to Maika Holdings if not for their past business record. They don’t deserve 10 million shares because of the dismal performance of the Maika management. They have to learn to do business on their own and not depend on shares and make money out of it” (
New Strait Times, 16 May 1992).

His autocratic style and arrogance comes through so forcefully: “I could have given all the shares to Maika Holdings…,” he boasts. “They don’t deserve 10 million shares…,” he berates. Mind you, he decides – not the Ministry of Finance!

It is very apparent that he keeps a very tight hold on Maika. That being the case, how could Maika undertake any business venture without his knowledge and blessing? Shouldn’t he be part of the debacle that is haunting Maika today? Shouldn’t he also shoulder the blame for “the dismal performance of the Maika management”?

And why should he give nine million shares to three obscure companies, two of which were in fact shell companies with paid-up capital of RM2 each? He did it on his own, without authority or directive from the Central Working Committee. And what was the rational for doing so?

And who lied to the Finance Ministry that these “three companies represented the interests of the Indian community”? What was the motive for diverting nine million shares to three private companies?

Those who sought to find the answers were threatened or beaten up. One brave soul who went on a crusade to expose this scandal was stabbed in Penang. Whenever questions regarding Maika were raised at MIC meetings presided by Samy Vellu, it was alleged that thugs would suddenly appear beside the person asking the question and that would be the end of the affair to seek answers.

start_quote (1K)
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, our new Prime Minister who seems to be on a crusade to wipe out corruption, should order the ACA to reopen this case.
end_quote (1K)

Some years ago, it was claimed that at one paricular MIC meeting at the Dewan Sri in Penang, chaired by Samy Vellu, a Maika shareholder wanted to know the position of Maika. It was alleged that Samy Vellu told this shareholder that he would provide the answer after the adjournment for refreshment. In the meantime two thugs confronted this shareholder and told him that if he wanted to return home in one piece it was the right time to go home. When the meeting resumed, Samy Vellu reportedly called for the shareholder to repeat his query. But since he wasn’t there, Samy Vellu continued with his meeting without touching on the subject of Maika.

Highly Questionable

It was alleged that Samy Vellu’s son and brother-in-law were directors of of the RM2 companies, SB Management Services Sdn Bhd and Advance Personal Computers Sdn Bhd. which received three million shares each. The third company that received the remaining three million shares was Clearway Sdn Bhd.

How these companies disposed of these shares and the manner the profits were channelled to Maju Institute of Education and Development (MIED) were highly questionable. Millions of ringgit were given to MIED in cash. In this day and age one has every right to suspect such transactions. Do you carry millions of ringgit in your person to pay to an educational institution? For God's sake, there is such a thing as bank transfers!

Let’s for a moment try to be logical. How did these companies come to possess this amount of money before it was handed over to MIED? They must have been paid in cheques when they sold the Telekom shares. Does it mean that they went to the bank, cashed the cheques and carried the millions of ringgit, presumably in a bag, as one crazy Malaysian guy did in Australia? This seems far fetched!

What is puzzling is the fact that in spite of so much overwhelming evidence, the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) after 17 months of investigation cleared Samy Vellu of any wrong-doing but unfortunately without clearing the doubts in the minds of the Malaysians, as was observed by Aliran Monthly. (See accompanying story on page 9 for a fuller account)

Who Benefits From Share Allocations?

But the larger question as to how and why political parties are allocated shares that are monoploised by the connected few have not been addressed. These allocations are never revealed and it is not possible to know which crony benefits and by how much. This system has led to abuses and effectively blocks the wealth from reaching a wider circle of deserving citizens.

Even the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, when queried on the issue, confirmed the lack of accountability being practised by government leaders. Mahathir’s twisted logic for not interfering with Samy Vellu’s decision in connection with the allocation of shares for the Indians was: “I cannot interfere in this matter because I also don’t want non-bumiputras to question how we distribute the shares among our commu-nity.” (The Star, 14 May 1992)

He wasn’t bothered whether the benefits reached the right people. He wasn’t concerned if there was a corrupt practice in place. The policy seemed to be one of non-interference when wealth resources were allocated, particularly under questionable circumstances.

Maika Scandal Refuses To Be Buried

In spite of 10 years of history, the Maika scandal refuses to be buried. It keeps on surfacing, haunting and hounding the perpetrators of a crime that robbed the poor of their fair share of their due. Ten years ago the Aliran Monthly had rightly observed, “The controversy surrounding the Maika-Telekom shares scandal appears to be far from over.”

Maika will be holding its Annual General Meeting on December 19, 2003 in Kuala Lumpur. As far as we know, no shareholder seems to have received any Notice of Meeting. Neither have they received the Annual Report nor the Statement of Accounts. And today is December 17, 2003. (This AGM has now been postponed to December 30, 2003)

How many shareholders are aware of this meeting? And what can they discuss without the benefit of the annual report and the statement of accounts? Will the shareholders be free from intimidation to raise relevant questions? Will they receive honest answers?

But answers may not be found at this AGM. What could this AMG reveal that the previous AGMs failed to disclose?

It is, therefore, a matter of urgent concern that the Maika scandal be re-investigated seriously. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, our new Prime Minister who seems to be on a crusade to wipe out corruption, should order the ACA to reopen this case. The poor Indians have turned to him as a last resort for help. Many of them had lost almost everything in investing in the Maika shares. All they want is the return of their investment. Justice must be done to them. Will he respond?

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Hindraf Uthayakumar Interview

December 5th, 2007
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Uthayakumar: I am no racist
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75675

Soon Li Tsin
Dec 5, 07 2:26pm

Fending off allegations that he is a racist, extremist and attention-seeker, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal adviser P Uthayakumar insists he is nothing of that sort.

In an interview with Malaysiakini two days ago, he spoke at great length about his self-proclaimed vendetta against Umno, his Kelantanese heritage and his interpretation of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Indian Malaysians.

Edited excerpts from the interview follow, although his manner of speech has been retained in the interests of authenticity.

Can you gauge the success of Hindraf rally – did you achieve what you set out to achieve?

To us it was a success. It was above my expectations because we targeted 10,000 but towards the end we knew that the numbers were a lot more higher. Our estimate was about 100,000 although Malaysiakini estimated it to be 30,000 and the local press made it 5,000-10,000.

The floodgates were broken. We didn’t expect that […] there was a lot of excitement on the part of Indians in particular to attend the peaceful assembly I do not know why but it was the talk of almost every Indian in Malaysia. They felt that they had a duty to attend the assembly and it was a historical day in Malaysia in a sense that people in such large numbers turned up.

Where were you that day? People said you did not appear until 1.30pm. Why was there a lack of leadership during the rally?

About 7am, I left my house and by 7.30am I was right in front of KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). We were telling the crowd not to do anything but keep quiet because we are officially suppose to start at 9am, we would wait for everybody to come. We were waiting for 9am and we wanted to go and tell the police we wanted to hand over the petition (addressed) to the Queen but before we could do anything the police started firing tear gas into the group to break them up.

I was particularly concerned with the safety for the assemblers because as I told Malaysiakini (in an interview the night before the assembly that) I would take personal responsibility because whatever happens, I have to take responsibility.

There were pictures of me with the British Council in the background, that’s in Jalan Ampang. From right in front of KLCC we moved into Jalan Ampang and I believe that was the major crowd, the bulk of the crowd was there.

We have no experience in organising a large assembly so there was problems with coordination. We originally wanted people to gather in front of KLCC at the last minute but the crowd was too large so we could not really coordinate properly.

Do you think the poor coordination led to the violence and people getting injured?

No, I think the police attack on innocent peaceful assemblers was what caused the violence.

But that was to be anticipated wasn’t it?

No, to me we have warned the police that we are assembling peacefully, our big banner said kami aman, polis jangan ganas (we’re peaceful, police don’t be violent’). We were exercising our right pursuant to Article 10 of the Federal Constitution (right to freedom of assembly). Who are the police to tell us not to gather? Who is the government to tell us not to gather?

So are you saying you’re placing constitutional superiority over people’s safety?

No, the people came against all odds. The prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), the deputy PM (Najib Abdul Razak) , the Inspector-General of Police (Musa Hassan) had warned them not to come every day for the past week with the media going full blast with their headline news on the radio, TV, the press in particular the Tamil press (all saying) ‘Don’t go’ but yet 100,000 [sic] people defied the PM, the DPM, the IGP.

Normally the media propaganda works but this time it did not work. The floodgates were opened. People came out in large numbers because they have been suppressed, oppressed, marginalised for 50 years. We are against the practice of racism by Umno […] on the Indians They have already been pushed to the wall and they come out in large numbers to peacefully register their protest against the Umno-led Barisan Nasional.

On the issue of racism, people allege that Hindraf is racist in nature. Why do you take such a communal approach when poverty affects Chinese, Malays and other minorities as well? 

Umno’s racial mindset has in fact spilled over to the opposition, NGOs and civil society in Malaysia (which have) begun to play to the gallery. They don’t go according to the seriousness of violation of human rights or the issue (but) by what gets them political mileage (because) the Malays and Chinese form 90 percent of the population.

If you take the latest example of the Hindraf peaceful assembly, people were arrested and beaten up and remanded for three days […] and they were charged immediately. None of the other supposedly multiracial opposition parties, NGOs or civil society (groups said anything) – there was pin-drop silence from them because the victims were Indians

If you see the issue of temple demolition – if only Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail), Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Nasharudin (Mat Isa) and (Abdul) Hadi Awang condemned the Umno government for demolishing temples […] they put their foot (down) strongly and tell (Abdullah), ‘Look this is wrong How can you go and demolish somebody’s temple’, I am sure the Umno government will back off.

But DAP, PAS and PKR will lose Malays votes so they don’t want to make a stand. If at all, they should be more multiracial. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word ‘racist’ against them, they should be multiracial. (When) the temple in Padang Jawa was demolished Kulasegaran moved an emergency motion (in Parliament but) why couldn’t it be Lim Kit Siang (as the parliamentary opposition leader)? […] it is a national issue, it is not n Indian issue.

[…] So if the opposition party, NGOs and civil society doesn’t want to do (Indian issues) […] if we don’t do, nobody would do it. So we are left with no choice but to focus on Indian issues, temple demolitions, Indians schools not being fully aided […] many schools look like a cow shed. I have not seen one Chinese or Malay school which looks like a cow shed.

The press don’t highlight the issue according to the gravity or the seriousness of it. So here we are we are saying it’s a serious problem, please pay attention to it but it is unfortunate that we are Indians and we champion Indian issues because the other communities are not interested so we are left with no choice but to do it ourselves. So who is racist-lah?

I was brought up in Kelantan where 99 percent (of people) are Malays, 0.9 percent Chinese and 0.1 percent Indian. Until today I speak fluent Kelantan Malay; not many people know that and I don’t look like someone who can speak Kelantan Malay, I was brought up with the Malays. I’ve got nothing against the Malays.

You want to know a little secret? I once went out with a Malay girl for five years. I have got people who say I’m a racist, I’m anti-Malay, but no I’m not. But because of religious considerations I could not convert to (Islam). She is a wonderful lady […] converting was something I could not accept. I told her from the beginning and we went our separate ways. It was sad, very sad but it had to happen. But I am no racist. Hindraf is no racist.

Do you think you could broaden your struggle, fight for rights of all poor people and not polarise races?

You see when it comes to the poor, the Chinese poor they have their guilds, associations and they are taken care of. The Malay poor is taken care of by the government. Chinese control 50 percent of the business in this country, they own a certain amount of political clout, they own about 30 percent of the votes. The Umno-led government takes the Chinese seriously. The orang asli they have an (Orang Asli Affairs Department), international bodies and NGOs which take care of aborigines. There are groups that take care of the foreigners.

But if a local Indian suffers some form of violation, these people will not speak up. I think that is not right. I think the onus is on the multiracial community to address the most serious violations of human rights. So if the Malay and Chinese communities do not want to support the Indian poor, there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t help it. It is beyond our power. It is up to them now.

This is criticism in a blog that describes Hindraf as "sheer idiots" for thinking they can change Indian Malaysians by walking […] to the British High Commission on a Sunday. People are saying Indians can be changed by education, eradicating toddy, eradicating gambling and others. What do you think of that?

To me, if the writer has a better solution he should have put it in his comments. Anybody and everybody can criticise. They should have come up with constructive criticism saying ‘don’t walk on a Sunday, this is what you should do’. To me we’ve talked about it, we are on the ground, we’ve been doing work for the last 10 years we do not have any other choice but to stage a peaceful assembly. I wish the writers and other commentators have better solutions for us, we would follow that, we would listen to them.

What do you expect out of the lawsuit against the British government?

The British are not like Malaysian. They do not have the Malaysian mindset. We have confidence in the British courts. We cannot say the same about Malaysian courts. […] So these people who have doubts about our suit, they are basing it on a Malaysian mindset. If at all we lose the suit, so what? So be it. We have got the best chance at justice.

What has happened to the 10-member delegation to deliver the petition to the Queen?

On Nov 27, the PM threatened us with the Internal Security Act and there was a real danger of Hindraf leaders being arrested. We had to devise a new strategy (for) one person to leave the country to carry the torch on the assumption that the others will be detained under ISA. So now (Hindraf chairperson) P Waythamoorthy (photo) is on an international lobby to India [..] he will then proceed to London, Geneva, Brussels, Washington DC, New York, Atlanta.

For the sake of transparency, how much does Hundraf get through donations? How much is being spent on Waythamoorthy’s lobby?

We will take it as it comes. We have never done this before. Maybe about RM50,000? Since it’s public funds, I think until yesterday we have collected about RM150,000 already. We were surprised. We wanted to take stock of the exact amount before we make the announcement because we are accountable to the public. We have got almost zero foreign funding. This is also good because we maintain our independence.

Are you going to meet with the PM?

If he gives us an appointment, we will meet him.

What is this vendetta against Umno about?

You see Umno has been very successful, (it) has been trained by the British who are very good and astute politicians. They conquered three-quarters of the world, they trained the Umno leaders […] to be very good politicians; they divide and rule.

They way they rule the Indians is that they create a system with MIC (and) leave the two million Indians’ problems to Samy Vellu (photo), the MIC, Hindu Sanggam. They’ve got a structure […] so any problems regarding the Indians, Umno will say ‘ go see your MIC leader’. The MIC leaders are powerless. Samy Vellu is the most senior cabinet member; he qualifies to be the PM but he is not because of his ethnicity. He cannot be PM.

During the Padang Jawa temple issue Samy went to the ground (and told) the enforcement chief, ‘please don’t break the temple’ and the enforcement chief told him pergi dah (go away). I’m breaking the temple’. What powers does Samy Vellu have (if) even the enforcement chief of the Shah Alam City Council doesn’t want to listen to him? To me that enforcement officer is more powerful than the most senior minister in the cabinet. That’s the reality because (the officer) is a Malay and Samy Vellu is an Indian. That’s a fact.

You can say I’m a racist but you see in Malaysia, people avoid talking about the realities about race. So Samy Vellu is a proxy of the Umno government. He is suppose to cheat and mislead the community. Samy Vellu has no power, he’ll only tell you three things: ‘I will bring this up with the cabinet’, ‘I will bring this up with the PM’ or ‘I will bring this up in Parliament’ because beyond this he cannot say anything.

To me even if you remove Samy Vellu and place me in his position, I will not be able to do anything. I’m powerless. Only PM and Umno have the power. Umno rules this country not Barisan Nasional. It’s a game Umno has played for 50 years so the Indians will end up fighting among themselves, it’s exactly what Umno wants.

Have you tried engaging Umno?

Of course. We have written over 1,000 letters over the past 10 years to the PM, chief ministers, mayors, Attorney-General, IGP (about) all the atrocities (done) to Indians (but) they just don’t (give) a damn. They don’t even bother replying save for a few letters acknowledging they have received our letters, thank you very much, full stop. That’s the first and last we hear from them.

The PAS-led government in Kelantan has not broken a single Hindu or Buddhist temple. In fact the largest sleeping Buddha in Southeast Asia is not in Thailand but in Kelantan in Kampung Neting, Tumpat, where I grew up. The PAS-led government does not break temples, only the Umno-lead government breaks temples.

Why didn’t Hindraf raise the issue of that surau the was also demolished and show you are not racist?

Because the surau was already replaced with a bigger surau, fully funded by the government. It is a non-issue. […] Until today, none of these groups – political parties, NGOs or even Umno – have said anything (about the fact).that no Hindu temple has been given government land or is fully funded by the government. There is zero. Nobody talks about it.

But there are also claims that there are many temples built illegally.

Most of these temples were built before Independence. Similarly mosque and suraus were built before Independence […] but they have all be legalised. So they become legal. Now these Hindu temples you do not legalise it and then you say they are illegal. Where is the justice? Article 8 of the Federal Constitution states there is equality before the law. Why one rule for the surau and one rule for the temples?

There is a Tamil proverbs saying that ‘you should never live in a village with no temple’. The Encyclopedia of Britannica define the Tamils as a ‘temple-building race’. It is their culture, it goes to the heart and the core of their culture. So (over) the issue of illegal temples, just make them legal, like how you make mosques and suraus legal, the problem is solved.

In the post-independence temples, the government has not made any allocation of land, so they (Indians) built temples which are (located near their) houses, whatever. But if the government had given them land, as it gave to Muslims, there would be no issue of illegal temples.

Why isn’t Hindraf lobbying to legalise the temples?

That is what we’re doing now. We are asking the government to gazette all Hindu temples. Take stock of all the Hindu temples, give them the land, gazette them as Hindu temple reserve and let’s move on from there. Any new temples, we deal with separately. The power is not with Hindraf, the power is with the government. (The Umno-led government) insults Hindu temples by relocating them next to sewerage ponds. Really demeaning, really insulting. If you don’t call that ethnic cleansing, then what is? They are insulting us saying, ‘that’s where you belong’.

What is Hindraf’s relationship with Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (PRIM)?
PRIM’s registration has never been approved. We at all times have been operating under Police Watch. It was only because of the recent Hindu temple demolitions that we started doing work under the Hindraf platform. That’s all.

Past Umno ministers have said we are doing it because of political motivation […] but because of the Umno-led government manoeuvering and gerry-mandering of parliamentary constituencies, there is not a single parliamentary or state constituency with an Indian majority. There is none. We can’t contest anywhere in Malaysia; we will lose because we do 99.99 percent Indian issues. So we can’t win.

As you can see I criticise Umno and I also criticise the opposition, so we are non-partisan. If we fight for Malay issues, it means we are fighting Umno’s racist policies. We are fighting against Umno’s Malay supremacy thinking. Of course PAS and PKR will not support us because they will lose Malay votes but that is not our concern. We are fighting for justice, equality, fairness for all communities.

As we see it now, politics is not important to us. The issues are more important. And I think we will lose credibility if we join a political party. We will support candidates who are sympathetic to the Hindraf cause and we will work behind them.

Maybe you can win if you become a political party by taking a less communal stand…

Maybe we will take a less communal stance and focus less on Indian issues when the Malays and Chinese fill in the blanks and take up Indian issues on a serious and equitable basis. If they had done it before, we would not be focusing on Indian issues […] we would (strike) a natural balance. People do not know about the non-Indian work we do. Even my lawyers friends have told me, ‘eh this is a Chinese case, a Chinese victim of police brutality, eh, you get Chinese papers coverage you know, you must do’. I don’t go by that. I don’t go by the mileage we get. I go by the seriousness of the issue.

How do you feel about the PM’s statement that Hindraf is spreading lies and causing hatred? He wants proof that genocide and ethnic cleansing have taken place in Malaysia.

I started off my letter (to British PM Gordon Brown) with (a reference to) Kampung Medan. Six people were killed, (more than a) hundred (were) injured (in May 2001).

But your letter states ‘100 over Indians were slashed and killed’ but you just said only six were killed …

No, the 100 over includes the six. Six were killed but 100 were slashed and (sustained) grievous bodily injury.

Aren’t you worried that this statement ‘100 over Indians were slashed and killed’ is misleading people to think hundreds were actually killed?

I’ve made this allegation about genocide and ethnic cleansing seven years ago and I have repeated it many times but it (only) caught fire at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, Uganda (last month). It caught the attention of the British PM and the press in Kampala, the (Malaysian) government is upset. But to me Hindu temples being relocated next to sewerage tanks – that is ethnic cleansing a la Malaysia. Every three weeks, a temple is demolished. If you don’t call it ethnic cleansing, what is it then? In Bosnia, you kill people. (But ethnic cleansing) a la Malaysia is worse because you are living and suffering on a day to day basis.

Don’t you think your choice of words is what’s getting you in trouble?

No, if they want to charge me for sedition, then so be it, but the court must give me a chance. I would like to produce hundreds of documents and media reports to justify that it is ethnic cleansing. Let the court decide whether it is ethnic cleansing or whether it is sedition but the court must hear me out. I have the evidence, I have the proof.

Is it true you got your law degree in United Kingdom through MIC-owned Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) loan?

Certainly not. My mother sold a house in Brown Garden in Penang for RM91,5000. MIED gave me a subsidy of 10 percent which is about RM12,000 – it was given to me by MIC (for) which I was thankful. But upon completion of my studies, I paid it back in full.

Why did you say Umno leadership was behind your car tyres being slashed recently?

Because they are now attacking me. Currently, who is attacking me? I have no enemies except Umno and the police. So it’s either one of them. I have no other enemies. Who else would do it?

But you don’t have evidence. It is because of such statements that people attack you and calling you an extremist.

Then you tell me who else? No. I don’t have any enemies. At all. I have zero enemies. I maintain a very low profile because of my work – I go home, I have no social life. I don’t go to pubs, I don’t go to disco, I don’t go for birthday parties. I don’t interact much with society, I’m a homely person.

Tell us more about the political asylum you tried to seek in UK in 2004?

It was at the height of the Francis Udayappan (missing police detainee) case. There was an attack on me, done with razor-sharp precision. That kind of thinking can only come from the police. […] They smashed my car windscreen and I hit a lamp post and somebody pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I had all the evidence.

I would have easily qualified for asylum but in the meantime the (de facto) law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz told me to come back, ‘Malaysia is your country please come back’ and he assured me my safety. I came back to Malaysia […] and the asylum application was withdrawn.

But with the current (situation) my life is back in danger again. But if you ask me whether I will seek asylum again, the answer is ‘No’. I will stay back and fight this time.

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SRKT UPSR 2007 results

November 18th, 2007
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There's an increase of 3 students (571 against 568 in 2006) who obtained 7As this year. Read last few years results here .. MIC says the increase is due to efforts by MIED and also RM500 prize giving function.

More Tamil school pupils scoring 7As

source

TAMIL newspapers highlighted the academic excellence of 573 Tamil school pupils who achieved 7As in the UPSR exam. Tamil Nesan, in its front-page report, reported that over the past few years, the number of Tamil school pupils achieving 7As had increased greatly. It said this year, more pupils from rural areas produced outstanding results. It said the efforts being undertaken by the MIC, through its education arm MIED in guiding and preparing the pupils, had been successful. It also said that the RM500 incentive given by MIED to each Indian pupils who achieved 7As at a grand function in Kuala Lumpur in front of pupils and parents was another motivating factor. Schools that produced the most number of students with 7As would be recognised and given monetary aid for their achievement, it said.

The Star: source

Better UPSR results this year

By TAN SHIOW CHIN

PUTRAJAYA: The Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) 2007 results showed an improvement in both the number of pupils scoring all As and those who achieved the minimum pass grade. Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom announced that 48,400 candidates (9.7%) scored all As compared with 42,029 (8.5%) last year.
Meanwhile, the number of pupils who achieved grades A, B and C in all subjects also increased by 2.5% to 64.2% this year. A total of 511,519 Year Six pupils sat for the UPSR examination at 8,182 centres nationwide. 

Out of the 12 subjects available, seven saw an increase in the percentage of candidates who achieved the minimum grade requirement of a C. Similar to last year, eight subjects recorded over 80% pass scores, including Bahasa Melayu SK (Comprehension) at 92.6%, Science (85.7%) and Mathematics (85.3%). 

Alimuddin noted that although this year's candidates did not study Mathematics and Science in English, there were some who had answered the two papers in English or in a mix of both languages. Bilingual answers were handed in by 10% of the candidates taking the Mathematics paper and 18% of those taking the Science paper. Meanwhile, 1,075 pupils (0.2%) answered the Mathematics paper entirely in English, while 1,324 pupils (0.3%) answered the Science paper in English. "Even though one cycle of PPSMI (Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English) will only be completed next year, we already have some pupils answering the papers in English. This is an interesting development, which makes us proud," he said. 

He added that the ministry expects a big increase in the number of pupils answering the two subject papers in English next year, despite them still having the option of answering in Bahasa Malaysia or English. "This is because Year Six pupils in 2008 have been taught entirely in English."  


NST: Source
By : Farrah Naz Karim

E students put damper on results

PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry has every reason to bask in the overall improved performance in this year's Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination which saw a higher percentage of students scoring straight As.


However, an unwelcome spike in the number of students who obtained an E for all subjects has put a damper on this year's overall achievement. Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said although the one per cent increase (from 3,437 students in 2006 to 5,012 students this year) in the number of students who got an E for all subjects was marginal, the ministry would nonetheless take steps to ensure better results each year.
"Very poor performances by these students is a cause for worry. We will continue to hold additional classes and use effective teaching materials and methods to improve the results," he said, adding that the ministry's Schools Division had been tasked with looking into helping poor students buck up.

Of the 500,786 UPSR candidates this year, 48,400 or 9.7 per cent scored straight As.

This was a jump from the 42,029 (8.5 per cent) candidates who scored straight As last year and 35,980 (7.3 per cent) in 2005. A total of 9,060 of those who scored straight As were from Chinese schools while 571 candidates were from Tamil schools.

Alimuddin said although this year's UPSR candidates were not the batch of students who had to learn Science and Mathematics in English, 18 per cent (89,875) chose to answer the Science paper bilingually, as did another 10 per cent (51,760) for the Mathematics paper. Another 2,399 students (1,324 students for Science and 1,075 for mathematics) opted to answer the Science and Mathematics papers entirely in English.

He also announced that the percentage of Year Six pupils who could read and write well stood at 38.7 per cent and 49.5 per cent respectively.

The Sun: Source

48,400 straight As UPSR achievers

PUTRAJAYA (Nov 16, 2007): A total of 48,400 or 9.7% of the 500,786 Year Six pupils who sat for the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination from Sept 3 to 5 scored straight As. Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom announced today the results were better than the 42,029 (8.5%) straight As achievers last year and 35,980 (7.3%) in 2005. Alimuddin said 9,060 of the high achievers were from Chinese schools compared with 9,745 last year and 7,700 in 2005. Tamil schools had 571 straight As students compared with 568 in 2006 and 517 in 2005.

He said those who sat for this year's UPSR were not the batch of students who had to learn Science and Mathematics subjects in English. "However, 89,875 or 18% of the students opted to answer the Science paper bilingually and 51,760 (10%) for the Mathematics paper," he said.Alimuddin said said 1,324 (0.3%) and 1,075 (0.2%) of the candidates chose to answer theScience and Mathematics papers entirely in English respectively.

The percentage of Year Six pupils who could read and write well stood at 38.7% and 49.5 % respectively.

Alimuddin said 20,856 students (4.2%) obtained grades D and E this year compared with 19,960 (4 %) lastvyear and 21,033 (4.2%) in 2005.

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An insight into minister Samy Velu

October 31st, 2007
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An insight into a minister

source

By ELAN PERUMAL

SAMY Vellu as we know him is the latest book published by the MPH Group.  

The 300-page coffee-table book was launched on Thursday by Cul-ture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim.

 

Let's see now: Rais (right) and Samy Vellu taking a look at the book while Chitra looks on.

 The pictorial book, which covers the life of MIC president and Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu from the age of 12, was authored by Chitra Vasu. 

 It was Chitra’s admiration for Samy Vellu that inspired the UK-trained accountant to embark on her maiden book. 

Samy Vellu as we know him com-prises interesting, inspiring and me-morable accounts by 97 people who are acquainted with the politician, some from as far back as 1946. 

“It is extremely important for us to document the great achievements of our past and present leaders like Datuk Seri Samy Vellu; the wealth of experience acquired by these great leaders is vital to the next generation of Malaysian leaders. 

“At MPH, we are fully committed to bringing you these great achievements through our books,” said MPH Group chief executive officer Datuk Ng Tien Chuan. 

Rais said the book was unique as it was on a personality who was a “living legend” and someone whom he often met. 

“We started as MPs together in 1974 and I have been here, gone out and returned to the government but Samy Vellu is still around as the country’s top leader of the Indian community. 

“The book will relate to us how Samy Vellu, as a boy from the estate, came to Kuala Lumpur and worked as waiter, cook, bus conductor and office boy and then became a char-tered architect from the UK before making a name for himself as one of the country’s great leaders,” he said in speech prior to launching the book.  

He added that people should not be discouraged by the book's 300- page extent as Samy Vellu's colourful life made interesting reading.  

Chitra, who presented a copy of the book to Samy Vellu, whom she had first met when he presented her a gift for achieving excellent results in the Standard Five examination in 1982, said: “This is my gift to Datuk Seri on your 71st birthday; I did not expect it to become such a huge event.”  

Chitra recalled that Samy Vellu had told the people who were at the prize-giving all those years ago, that “this girl will go very far in life”.  

She said she had adored the leader from a very young age and Samy Vellu's photograph hung alongside a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on the wall of her house in Ipoh. 

“I’m grateful to Datuk Seri Samy Vellu for he has funded my education throughout all the years,” said the 36-year-old chief executive officer of MIC’s Maju Institute for Educa-tion (MIED). 

Chitra thanked Samy Vellu, all the 97 people who had contributed their accounts of the politician and her editorial team for her success. 

“This is only my first book and I could not have done it without the support of various people who willingly came forward to assist me in accomplishing my ambition,” she said. 

The book is available at MPH outlets at RM140 per copy.

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