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Posts Tagged ‘Najib Tun Razak’

Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party launch by PM

September 25th, 2009

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I guess the guardian of Indian community won’t be squirming in his seat. After all, previous leaders have graced functions by PPP or IPF. But the move by PM Najib to launch a new party is interesting to the Indian community. Especially more so when the new party is very much linked to HINDRAF. I still remember ex-PM Badawi saying “who are they” (referring to HINDRAF) in 2007. Anyway, its an open secret that MMSP got its application super-fast-tracked by ROS due to orders from the top.

The Prime Minister has accepted the invitation to launch the newly-formed Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party on Oct 10.

Party secretary-general Kannan Ramasamy said the Prime Minister accepted the invitation in late August to be the guest-of-honour at the party’s official launch scheduled to be held at 10am at the Malaysia Agricultural Exposition Park in Serdang.

“We are happy that he has accepted the invitation and we feel it is a good start for us with the Prime Minister launching our party,” said Kannan.

The party, which was officially registered early this year, is a splinter group of the outlawed Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) which organised anti-government rallies in November 2007.

Although a large number of pioneering Hindraf members appeared to still be anti-establishment, Kannan and party president R. S. Thanenthiran ? both Hindraf coordinators ? have made peace with the Government.

So, will MMSP be in the mould of IPF, a BN supporter but remaining outside the coalition, with the lure of Senatorship for its leaders, special appoinments and cabinet positions a strong possibility after the next general elections? Or will infighting, sabotage, and other malaise affect it, eventually condemning the party into oblivion?

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Posted in Indian

Tags: Hindraf MMSP Najib Tun Razak Politicians

Sri Murugan Centre gets RM1 million

September 18th, 2009

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THE Government has allocated RM1 million to the Sri Murugan Centre to help poor and deserving Indian students excel in their education, Tamil Nesan reported.

The centre’s director and founder, Datuk Dr M. Thambirajah, told reporters after receiving the cheque from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Putrajaya on Wednesday.

The centre was established in 1982 to focus on education.

It provides tuition for UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM students.

He said that over the years the centre had produced 16,000 graduates.

It has 103 branches throughout the country.

He added that the funds would be used to open new centres with better facilities.

– The Star

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Posted in Indian

Tags: Education Funds Najib Tun Razak SMC

1Malaysia website in Tamil

September 17th, 2009

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Its finally here folks! After one year of waiting, the Tamil version of PM Najib’s 1Malaysia website has gone live from yesterday (psst..does it mean we get things one year after everyone else? 🙂 ) :

However, the comments are shared, so you can read all the comments for a particular post, regardless of which language you choose.

The changes are part of the 1st year anniversary of the 1Malaysia website.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags: Najib Tun Razak

All the President’s Men…

September 13th, 2009

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It was expected really. Regardless of what certain old man said or the piece of toilet paper that claims to be newspaper says, its a foregone conclusion. Even the head of BN Backbenchers Club, the controversial Bung Mohktar said this:

He said the crisis affecting the MIC could eventually spill over and affect the entire Barisan Nasional.

“If the MIC does not change and continues to be looked down by the community it is supposed to represent, Barisan will bear the brunt of this weakness,” Bung said in a statement here yesterday.

He said there were already signs of this happening, adding that the MIC had not been able to muster support for Barisan in recent by-elections.

“What has happened is that the Indian community is disunited and forming parties,” Bung added.

He said Samy Vellu should listen to voices from the Indian grassroots to give up the party president’s post that he has held for 30 years.

Nothing can beat the master strategist.

Personally, I thought either Balakrishnan or Teyagarajan will cause an upset in the race for vice president, but didn’t turn out that way. Out of the 27 President’s nominees for 23 CWC seats, at least 19 of Samy’s men won. That means from the balance 36 non-President’s candidates, only 4 won.

I’m interested with what Minnal FM radio news at 10pm mentioned just now: PM Najib congratulates Palanivel, and that he (Najib) thought the delegates did listen to him (Najib) and voted wisely. It also mentioned that PM Najib even said he expected Palanivel to win. I didn’t say that. Minnal newscaster said it. Hopefully there’s a recording or the text somewhere for reference. Anyway, The Star also reported similar thing:

In Pekan, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he wanted the MIC leaders who had won in the party election Saturday to close ranks and regain the support of the Indian community in the country.

He congratulated Palanivel as well as the other MIC leaders.

“The result that was announced had been expected. There were no surprises although support for the other candidates was rather strong.

“Nonetheless, based on my speech this morning, I believe this is the beginning of their efforts to win the support and heart of the Indian community,” he told reporters after attending a breaking of the fast and handing over of Hari Raya contributions at the Masjid Felda Chini 4, in Pekan.

This is NST’s version:

“The result that was announced had been expected. There were no surprises although support for the other candidates was rather strong.

“Nonetheless, based on my speech this morning, I believe this is the beginning of their efforts to win the support and heart of the Indian community,” he told reporters after attending a breaking of the fast and handing over of Hari Raya contributions at the Masjid Felda Chini 4, here today.

I listened to excerpts of PM Najib’s speech over the radio and it sounded energetic. Oh ya, there’s also the standard stuff – “support will be rewarded” mantra. He also mentioned about Kg Buah Pala:

“Look at the promise they made to Kampung Buah Pala. They made promises, don’t worry if we win, you all will stay here forever. But looked what happened.”

I don’t remember the leaders offering any solution, but the issue used for politics purpose. I hope our Indians in the hall didn’t clap enthusiastically for that.

Samy’s speech covered the some of the familiar things – economic equity, Tamil schools, government jobs etc.

Meanwhile, (sore?) loser Dato Subra claims it was money politics that caused his loss. Loss is loss la. Whatever reason also.

Beneath the surface, if we look at the results, the majority for Palanivel is a mere 82 votes . This indicates a very tough battle for the Samy Vellu to promote his man. And regardless of what Sothinathan may claim, his role was indeed a spoiler. If three quarters of his votes went to Dato Subra, it will be different song from Samy Vellu. Anyway, that’s a big IF, and I think if Sothinathan was not contesting, the majority may be higher for Palanivel, if we take in to account the results for vice presidents. Third placed Saravanan had a 560-odd majority over 4th placed Teagarajan.

The fight for CWC seats saw many state leaders losing: state chairman Datuk G. Rajoo (Perak), Datuk T. Rajagopalu (Negri Sembilan), Datuk V Saravanan (Kedah), Datuk R. Raghavan (Penang) and Dr K. Rajapathy (Penang) while the others include G. Vimalah Nair, P Logeswari @ Kajang Rani and G. Jayakumaran.

The Official Results:

Deputy president

G Palanivel* – 629
S Subramaniam – 547
S Sothinathan – 280
* 4 spoilt votes
Vice-president (3 posts)

Dr S Subramaniam – 1,260
SK Devamany – 1,122
M Saravanan – 1,030
S Balakrishnan – 471
VKK Teagarajan – 220
P Subramaniam – 215
P Mariayee – 61

* Incumbent. Those in bold are MIC president S Samy Vellu’s men.

Central Working Committee (23 seats)

1. KR Partiban
2. M Asojan
3. VS Mogan
4. RA Ragu Moorthi
5. S Murugesan
6. M Devandran
7. A Saktivel
8. Randhir Singh
9. Jaspal Singh
10. KRA Naidu
11. K Ganeson
12. S Ananthan
13. MM Samy
14. SP Manikavasagam *
15. M Paanjamoorthy
16. AGaneson
17. VK Suppiah
18. S Ganesan *
19. KP Samy *
20. SS Rajagopal
21. N Ravisandaran
22. P Palaniappan
23. Madhu Marimuthu *

* non-Samy candidates

So, there you go. Would be another 3 years of much empty promises and sweet talk, just like the situation in last two decades, as claimed by Samy? Did the delegates make a right choice? I think they did for the sake of the party. Having a deputy at odds with the leadership will only spell disaster. One just need to look at MCA. So, the delegates didn’t have much choice actually.

By the way, someone asked me what on the top floor of Tun Sambanthan building. I have no idea. Do you?

The links below are articles that appeared in the media for the last few weeks, focusing on MIC elections. In case you are very free, you can read them.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/11kd/Article/
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/4/nation/4450712&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/04rixx/Article/
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/5/nation/4449271&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/9mic1/Article/index_html
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/110056
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/7/nation/4472503&sec=nation
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/9/nation/4486172&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/11/nation/4491500&sec=nation
http://www1.malaysiakini.com/news/110365
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/12/nation/4503958&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/12/nation/4503957&sec=nation
http://malaysiakini.com/news/110862
http://malaysiakini.com/news/111523
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/5ssb/Article/index_html

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/28/nation/4602198&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/28/nation/4602584&sec=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/15sso/Article/index_html
http://malaysiakini.com/news/111804

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Posted in Indian

Tags: Elections MIC Najib Tun Razak Politicians

New category of PSD scholarships next year

June 28th, 2009

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From The Star:

A new category will be established starting next year for scholarships under the Public Services Department scheme to be awarded purely based on merit, regardless of race.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun razak said he was sure that such a category would be welcomed by all communities, including the Chinese.

“We are re-studying the distribution of scholarships under the Public Services Department scheme to introduce a new category.

“Starting next year, we will see the distribution of scholarships based purely on merit, regardless of race.

“We will announce it next year and with the plan to limit to 10 subjects, we expect to see a more level playing field,” he said in his speech at a dinner organised by both MCA and the Associated Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce here Saturday.

Najib said this would allow Malaysia’s best students to get aid to pursue higher studies.

“So we will get the best of best and the creme de la creme getting aid for higher studies.

“I believe this will be accepted well and it will allow each individual a fair chance to realise his full potential,” he said, adding however that he was not “letting the cat out of the bag” just yet on the scheme.

Well, need to wait for the cat to be let out. At the moment, can only speculate.