Posts Tagged ‘Pakatan Rakyat’

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More allegations on the Kampar bridge tragedy

November 15th, 2009
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A four-hour public inquiry held by the PR investigation committee produced more shocks. Malaysiakini reported that about 50 people. mainly parents,  attended the inquiry.

One of the victim’s father said:

Lorry driver T Nathan, 44, who lost his 11-year-old daughter Dina Deve in the incident, demanded for the camp’s closure.

The visibly distraught father said he did not want the same fate to befall other parents.

“The lives of my daughter and her friends were sacrificed needlessly in the name of the 1Malaysia concept of (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) which is a political stunt to fool Malaysians.

“My daughter would be still alive if not for the 1Malaysia concept camp,” he added.

Nathan cited seven reasons as to why the camp should be closed. They were:

1. There is a durian tree inside the compound of camp and there is a danger of the fruits falling on the children and killing them.

2. There is a six feet deep pond filled with greenish smelly water located in the compound which participants cross over using ropes.

3. There is a one-foot high broken wire squared maze on the ground where the children have to jump from one square to another to reach the other end of the maze. There is a danger that the children might hurt themselves in jumping from these broken wire squares.

4. The area of the 1Malaysia camp across the river is too small to accommodate the 298 pupils.
5. The area of the present camp is a former Orang Asli burial ground.

6. There is no proper water supply to the camp and the children had to break the closed water pipe to quench their thirst. [wah! this is serious!!!]

7. There is no proper lighting for the camping area.

Met later, Nathan told Malaysiakini that when he went looking for his daughter on the other side of the river on that fateful night, he saw that the camp tents were only about five feet from the edge of the river bank.

According to him, the camp authorities quickly dismantled the tents located near the river after the bridge collapsed.

More serious is the comment by some of the children:

Meanwhile, some of the children who attended the camp told the inquiry that they were the ones who threw the life-jackets to the 19 pupils who fell into the water and not the teachers as reported in the media.

They added that the life-jackets were kept in a storeroom away from the bridge.

Committee chairman assemblyman Sivakumar said that the contractor did not get permission from the relevant authorities with regards to building the bridge and the main reason it collapsed was because the foundation was weak.

Speaking to reporters later, Sivakumar said that the committee could not meet up with the director of the Perak state education co-curriculum centre situated in Pangkor Island as the state education director, the Kinta Selatan district education officer and the co-curriculum director were urgently called up by the Education Ministry to Putrajaya on Friday.

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Manoharan unhappy

November 13th, 2009
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Interesting to read the article below. While some may choose to brand Manoharan as being racist or narrow-minded, I have to say one thing – when issues involving Indians arise, there seems to be very little noise from the PR side (only Manikavasagam always create some ruckus). So, can the public be blamed if they think the PR coalition doesn’t care that much?

DAP assemblyperson M Manoharan today described Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor as no different than the previous government run by Barisan Nasional.

In his 20-minute Selangor 2010 debate debut, the former ISA detainee and Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson said the Pakatan government should have rewarded the Indians the most. His reasoning was that ‘they are the ones who contributed to the coalition’s huge win in the last general elections’.

Manoharan also chided Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim for only having one Indian exco in the government leadership lineup.

“The government is supposed to appoint two Indian excos. Instead, they only gave one (to Dr Xavier Jayakumar). [so, who made the agreement to have two EXCOs and why only got one now?]

He asked why Bukit Melawati assemblyperson M Muthiah wasn’t appointed as well. Manoharan said that as Muthiah is an engineer, he would be qualified to be an exco. [Good question. How many others are equally or more qualified than Muthiah in terms of academic/professional qualification?]

Manoharan also attacked the menteri besar for giving a ‘less-important’ porfolio to Jayakumar, a dentist. The latter was tasked with the health, estate workers, poverty and caring government portfolio. [it also depends on the person on the seat to make use of his portfolio and help people. What are the things being done for estate people? What are the funds available for poor people? All these come under Xavier.]

“If a dentist from Umno (Dr Mohd Khir Toyo) could be made a menteri besar, why isn’t a dentist in Pakatan given a more important portfolio?” said Manoharan.

Manoharan said the menteri besar should not have commented on a case sub judice (under judgement) when Khalid rebutted the accusation that Umno was involved in the infamous ‘cow-head’ protest last August.

Last Tuesday, Khalid defended Umno over the recent protests against the relocation of a Hindu temple in Section 23. Though he admitted that the protestors were from Umno, he stopped short of accusing the party of orchestrating the protest.

Continuing his tirade, Manoharan said the budget presented by the state government should have addressed more plights among the Indian community.

“Selangor still does not make Indians as its priority. I hope they will come up with their own think-tank so that they would not lose the Indian support in the next election,” he said. He cited Hindraf’s think-tank as a deciding factor in Pakatan’s win in the last election.

At this juncture, PKR rep Azmin Ali (Bukit Antarabangsa) interjected, saying that any Pakatan assemblyperson should champion every race, rather than focusing only on one race.

“I am a Malay, but I don’t champion my own race. I am concerned about the Indians and the Chinese too,” said Azmin (left). [But I can’t remember him commenting on any issues related to Indians so far. Anyone can help out here?]

He also said that the menteri besar, although he did not come out with specific programmes for the Indian community in the budget, still allocated RM4 million to Indian vernacular schools. [Yeah, this is one good thing, but the other schools (chinese, missionary, and agama) also got RM4 million each. But more importantly, how many schools have received their own lands?]

Azmin also said that Khalid had allocated RM2 million to estate workers’ children who were mostly from Indian families. [this is a good thing too, hope its an annual thing, and similar help should be given to the pribumis as well]

“I can assure you that throughout the time we have governed the state, the state government is always concerned about the Indian community and other races as well,” added Azmin.

However, Manoharan remained unconvinced, saying that such arguments were also made by BN previously.

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Kampar tragedy parents to sue amidst negligence reports

November 7th, 2009
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As starling information (still unverified by the official investigation team) is revealed by PR led team, the parents of the deceased children are going to sue the relevant people for about RM100 million.

Perak ADUN Sivanesan’s law firm will handle the case. The defendants are : SJK (T) Mambang Diawan, SJK(T) Gopeng, the Kinta Selatan district education office, the Perak Education Department, the Education Ministry, the commandant of the 1Malaysia camp, the sponsor of the bridge, the contractor who built the bridge and the Malaysian government. The fathers will file the suit on behalf of the deceased.

According to Sivanesan:

“The parents are furious at the Perak state education department deputy director Muhammat Roli Hassan for his statement in Berita Harian today,” said Sivanesan.

“He was quoted as saying parents have signed letters of undertaking that they will not hold the school and the education department responsible for any untoward incidents during the course of the camp,” said Sivanesan.

“This letter of undertaking is like writing on a piece of toilet paper which has no legal basis but is used to frighten parents from holding the authorities liable,” he pointed out.

“This is utter nonsense in the eyes of the law as the negligence was not caused by the children but by the authorities and as such they are liable to pay for the unnecessary deaths of the three young innocent children,” he said.

The PR investigation committee, headed by assemblyman and ex-Speaker Sivakumar, made these “findings” after interviewing the affected parents and pupils of the camp:

1. The first, he stressed, was that no teachers were present to supervise the crossing of the primary school children at the time of the incident. [this is a very serious accusation. Someone could be imprisoned for this!]

“Initially, there were only three teachers supervising the children from SK Kuala Dipang walking along the suspension bridge across the Kampar River to the camping area.

“The rest of the 22 teachers who were supposed to be overseeing the entire group of 294 pupils were having a meeting at the school building,” he said.

“Even the three teachers vanished and there were no teachers present during the fateful crossing of the 22 pupils when the bridge collapsed,” he added.

2. Meanwhile, Sivakumar said the 22 children were not wearing life jackets when they started to cross the bridge and the life jackets were thrown to the victims only after the bridge had collapsed.

This was revealed to Sivakumar by M Sarveswaren, the 12-year-old brother of deceased Davadharshini, who was also a camp participant.

3. Sivakumar also revealed that the directive was that only six children are allowed on the bridge at any one time.

However, without the supervision of the teachers, the 22 pupils went on the bridge at about the same time and the bridge gave way.

Sivakumar also lauded the three teachers – two males and a female – who jumped into the river to save many of the 19 children.

4. “The death of both Standard Five pupils Dina and Davadharshini is ironic as both were not in the original list of Standard Six pupils picked for the camp after the UPSR examinations. [So, students were skipping final exams to attend a camp??? This is too much!]

“Both were supposed to sit for their class examinations but instead were roped in at the last minute,” he said.

5. He added that the parents of the dead pupils were not properly briefed on the outing, but merely told to sign letters of indemnity with a footnote stating that the school or the Education Department shall not be held responsible for any untoward incident at the camp. [this is common la…]

As deceased Dina’s father Nathan, 44, was absent, her mother Mohana, 36, who is an illiterate, simply placed a thumb-print on the consent form.

As for Davadharshini, her mother Nagarathana, 41, also signed the form without knowing where her daughter was being taken to.

6. The ill-fated bridge was allegedly not approved by the local authorities and was illegally built in haste for the 1Malaysia camp. [another serious allegation, but why we are not surprised to hear this]

This is the information the committee received from the Land Office and Kampar Municipal Council that both the sponsor and contractor are based in Kuala Lumpur.

According to assemblyman Chang, the district officer and his deputy had told him that before any structure is built, plans have to be submitted and approved by the council.

The council will then forward the building plans to the fire, health, drainage and irrigation and environment departments for their joint approval.

Chang said he had learnt from the authorities that when federal projects are implemented at the district level, the norm is to bulldoze the project through without consulting and without the local authorities’ approval.

We have to wait till next week for the Education Ministry’s report to compare the findings. It seems Public Complaints Bureau may initiate investigation pending approval from PM Najib, says Senator Murugiah.

BTW, still no news from the contractors involved.

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80 year old cafe demolished after 24 hour offer lapsed

October 30th, 2009
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Well, I  heard of efficiency, but didn’t expect it in this kind of situation. I think in Kg Buah Pala case there was also some “take or leave it” ultimatum to be done with short period of time. Something seems fishy here, unless its a spinned story by NST. You never know….

The operator of the demolished Waterfall Cafe at the Penang Botanical Gardens here will not get any compensation as the state government’s offer to him has lapsed.

N. Sundras, 54, whose family had been running the cafe for 80 years, since the days of his father, was apparently given less than 24 hours to accept the offer.

Now, Sundras has no home or alternative site to run his business. Neither does he have money to help his family cope with the sudden change in their lives.

The state government had offered him a nearby coffee shop to occupy temporarily. It had promised him a new coffee shop and hawker stall at the Tourism Pavilion that would be completed next year where he would run his business eventually, and RM10,000 in goodwill payment.

However, yesterday morning, he was told that he would not be getting anything as he had not accepted the offer by last Monday.

“This is very upsetting. If you make a promise, you must keep the promise. We never said we did not want to move out. We will go if our problems are solved. Everything can be negotiated,” Sundras said yesterday as he watched the cafe being torn down, along with his adjoining home where he was born in 1955.

Sundras’ cafe and house, which were both on state land, were demolished yesterday afternoon to make way for the Botanical Gardens’ RM7 million expansion project.

State Tourism Development and Culture Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang told a press conference at his Komtar office yesterday that the offer to Sundras expired on Monday.

Law said if Sundras still wanted the space for his business, he would have to apply through the proper channels.

He also said the state would no longer pay the RM10,000 initially offered to Sundras to cover inconveniences caused to his business and for alternative accommodation.

Sundras’ son, S. Anatharaj, 28, said Law had, on Monday, issued a letter to his father about the temporary coffee shop and Pavilion site offer. But the offer was only valid for one day.

“It was a take-it-or-leave-it. If my father did not take the offer on the spot, it was gone. Is this right?” he asked, adding that the letter was also forwarded to the offices of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy.

He said his family had appealed to the state government over the decision to demolish the cafe and house numerous times since June but had never received any reply.

“We even went to talk to Ramasamy at his office early last month and he said he would help. But with Law changing his mind, what now? Is this how the state government treats people?”

He said his family would put up temporarily with friends and relatives until they sorted things out.

And to further create doubt on the project, someone said the demolition may be illegal! :

The demolition of the Waterfall Cafe at the Penang Botanic Gardens may be illegal, according to a non-governmental organisation, the Cultural Heritage Advisory Team (CHAT), which stated that the demolition of the building was done without the local authorities’ approval.

The group also claimed that its findings revealed that the State Secretariat had violated Section 19 (1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, that prohibits development without planning permission.

CHAT said that planning permission must be submitted to the council’s planning department and legal procedures must be followed for demolitions, as well as for erection of any new structures.

In its statement, the group expressed its disappointment in the state government and demanded a written explanation on why the development project at the Botanic Gardens was not subject to public participation and why no planning permission was submitted on time, which could have allowed an assessment of the ecological heritage site and negotiation with the contractor to review the proposed landscape design to make it more compatible with the Botanical Gardens.

“While we feel that the Botanical Gardens is in need of a landscape review, particularly in relation to parking issues and are grateful to the Federal Government for extending the funds for the RM7 million expansion project, the state must set procedures for sensitive development via local expert consultation.”

So, did the state government commit a crime by not following rules?

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Shah Alam temple photos, moratorium idea and temple building

October 26th, 2009
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MalaysianIndian1 Blog has some pictures of the said altar/shrine/temple before it was demolished, while Human Rights Party website has the scanned photos from newspapers post-demolishment.

Looking at the photos, I noticed the deities seem to resemble those found in Chinese places of worship.

So, is a proper religious site or used for obtaining 4D numbers as claimed by MBSA? Does it really matter? Its on government land, so they have right to demolish structure.  But is this considered temple, shrine or altar?

Very confusing. Anyway, MIC Youth wing advisor Vell Paari opined that a moratorium is placed on all Hindu temple demolitions until an amicable solution is reached on the status of these temples in the country. He said a  3 to 5 year period is needed for a “all-party” committee include stakeholders from state governments, political parties, civil societies, religious bodies, and temples,  to establish proper guidelines on Hindu temples. He further mentioned that till a proper guideline enforced with political will is established, temple demolishment issues will be used by political parties as part of the blame game, and the worshippers are the ones who suffer in the end.

I think it comes back to the culture. The Indians are known to be temple builders since thousands of years ago. Life practically evolved around temples if one observes cities in India, especially in southern states.  Things have changed a bit in recent years, as more of them embrace modernity. The “educated” tend to spend less time involved in temples but focus more on economic concerns. The rest still depend a lot on divine interception.  An ant hill or tree trunk can be converted into a place of worship easily. The story in Mahabaratham – Eklavya who makes a clay figure of his guru and learns archery by himself, comes to mind. Even in housing areas, there are residents who build an altar at their car porch area and do prayers till wee hours of night.

Asking the Malaysian Indians to not simply built temples everywhere is one of the possible steps, but how about those places already in existence? MHS is doing study on temples at myhindutemples.com for starters. Do we need some sort of committee at national level? Or to be handled by each states accordingly? Would it be proper to establish one under PM Dept or Ministry of Unity, for example?

Is accepting the culture of the Indian community part of 1Malaysia (or whatever)? If we are to accept others as they are, with warts and all, it should be the same the other way around, no?

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