Posts Tagged ‘Politicians’

MIC new strategy works

September 4th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


According to a Malaysiakini report, Samy Vellu says that MIC’s innovative techniques deployed in Permatang Pauh election was effective. He is happy with campaign strategies which included door-to-door campaign and VCDs (like what the opposition did last time). Groceries were distributed to the poor as well.

However, we have to wait for the statistics to see if the 3000-odd Indian voters fell for the MIC’s new strategies. UPDATE: According to an analysis in Malaysiakini, 1% more non-Malay voters voted for Anwar as compared to March 8 elections. No racial breakdown were given.

Samy Vellu said that all promises made during the by-election campaign will be fulfilled.

Hindraf coordinators arrested as PM visits prayer event

August 23rd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Hindraf is rocked by more arrests and revelation by its leader Waytha that 3 of its main personalities are recruited by Special Branch.

The email from Waytha as below:

HINDRAF
135-3 JALAN TOMAN 7
KEMAYAN SQUARE
70200 SEREMBAN

BRIEF PRESS STATEMENT 23RD AUGUST 2008-08
RE: ISA DETAINEE VASANTHAKUMAR A SPECIAL BRANCH PLANT
RAMACHANDRAN MEYAPPAN & V.K.REGU HAVE BEEN RECRUITED AS GOVERNMENT AGENTS TO BETRAY HINDRAF CAUSE.

ISA detainee Vasanthakumar had volunteered to join HINDRAF in September 2007 and according to him at that time he was waiting for someone to do something drastic and the fact that I had filed an action against the UK Government attracted him to join HINDRAF. He had then served as a volunteer and I offered him to undertake the post of pro tem treasurer.

It came to my attention in January 2008 that Vasanthakumar has been planted by the Police Special Branch to infiltrate HINDRAF and upon further investigations the fact became apparent.

In March 2008 I was informed by two top Government officers on separate occasions confirming Vasanthakumar was assigned to break up HINDRAF lawyers in detention and the organisation from his detention. He had since met with various people from within HINDRAF to break the organization.

V.K.Regu though was a Pro tem Secretary of HINDRAF but was removed personally by me in October 2008 for undertaking activities against the interests of HINDRAF.

Upon the arrest of the 5 I had appointed a 10 member interim committee of which Tanendran was made the National Co-ordinator and Ramachandran Meyappan alias Ramaji was made the Spiritual Advisor of HINDRAF.

Recent events have shown that Ramaji and Regu had made frequent visits to KEMTA prison to meet Vasanthakumar secretly and they had colluded to break up HINDRAF and take over the registration of HINDRAFas an organization.

Ramaji and Regu had various secret and unauthorised meetings with the Prime Ministers Department, the PM’s Private Secretary and top MIC leaders over the last 5 months and I have evidence of this. It is now clear that all their activities thus far is to break up HINDRAF and take over the leadership of HINDRAF together with Vasanthakumar upon his release from ISA.

It wouldn’t be a surprise that the Government would approve the registration of HINDRAF as a legitimate organisation but the approval would be handed over to Regu Ramaji and Vasanthakumar and other MIC proxies so that the unity and power that HINDRAF has displayed under the MAKKAL SAKTI would be permanently be damaged and shattered.

I apologize to all HINDRAF supporters for concealing these crucial facts all these while. I did this solely to protect the unity and integrity of HINDRAF and to avoid the breakup of HINDRAF. I sincerely believed that the release of the 5 including Vasanthakumar is of utmost importance for the sake of HINDRAF’S struggle.

What transpired today at Butterworth is a blatant insult to the intelligence of all HINDRAF supporters. Ramaji and Regu had placed various advertisements and news in the local tamil daily over the last few days about gathering 20 000 people for a Yaagam for the release of the 5 HINDRAF and for the promotion of the 18 demands submitted by HINDRAF in August 2007 under their organisations ie HSS (Hindu Sevai Sangam) and an organisation loosely named Makkal Sakti. This event that was organised deliberately in the Permatang Pauh Constituency where there the Ex deputy Prime Minister is contesting in a by-election next Tuesday. By using the name Makkal sakti both ramaji and Regu had expected a huge crowd to bolster their grip on HINDRAF by the Prime Minister personally attending their Maha Yagam which was organised in a Chinese Temple (1st time of its kind) and entertained by a local famous pop band group.

I urge all HINDRAF supporters to remain calm during this crucial moment and urge all look out for news in our website www.hindraf.org and www.hindraf.co.uk for the latest news.

As the Chairman of this organisation I take full responsibility for the damage caused to the divine struggle of this organisation and extend my sincere apologies to all our supporters. Let us all unite to fight the betrayers within us who are up for selfish gain and to break the unity that never was seen prior to this within our community over the last 51 years. May the blessings of the almighty be showered upon us on this crucial period and I seek his guidance to take me in the right path.

P.Waytha Moorthy
HINDRAF
Currently in London

Looks like HINDRAF is in getting into a mess with many wanna-be splinters coming up.

The incident he was talking about is the yagam (prayer) organised by a Makkal Sakthi group in a Chinese temple in Penang. The event was attended by Prime Minister Badawi which itself is an impossible feat since he had declared that he will never meet any HINDRAF leaders (“who are they” comes to mind). Thus, its clear that another group had organised this yagam.

The Hindraf coordinators led by Thanenthiran protested outside the temple, and subsequently the police arrested them. 8 leaders arrested including two ladies. Report from Malaysiakini:

Eight Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders, including national co-ordinator TS Thanenthiran, were arrested this evening after staging a protest against a splinter group outside a Chinese temple in Seberang Jaya, Penang.

The protest began around 2pm, swelling to about 200 people by the time the arrests were made. The splinter group, which also claims to represent Hindraf, was carrying out a bonfire prayer at the temple.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in town to help campaign for his coalition in the Permatang Pauh by-election, dropped by to visit the temple around 5.30pm. He chatted briefly with members of the splinter group and shook hands with some of them before leaving.

Soon after that, the demonstration got out of hand and the arrests were made around 6.30pm.

Police said the eight people, including two women, were arrested for illegal demonstration.

Hindraf chief P Waythamoorthy called Malaysiakini from London, saying that the splinter group did not represent Hindraf and the prayer ceremony was not sanctioned by the Indian rights group.

Bonfire organisers VK Regu had told reporters earlier that the event was organised by the Makkal Sakhti movement, which is sometimes used interchangeably with Hindraf, in collaboration with an NGO.

We want to seek divine intervention to secure the release of the five Hindraf leaders detained under the Internal Security Act, he said, adding that the event was also to urge Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to fulfil Hindraf’s 18-point memorandum on Indian affairs submitted to Abdullah last year.

Shortly after, Regu was confronted by the 10 Hindraf activists and a shouting match erupted between the two groups before the protest began.

The Hindraf activist claimed that the bonfire organisers were out to confuse Indian voters in Permatang Pauh by engaging Abdullah at the event.

The demonstration began immediately after Abdullah left the event with protesters shouting reformasi and long live Anwar before they were dispersed by the police.

Petrol price down 15 sen as inflations hits 8.5 percent

August 23rd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Came back and saw this on Malaysiakini: Gov’t slashes petrol price by 15 sen

Guess what, I just filled my tank with RM70++ worth of petrol 🙁 So stupid of me to trust the statement that said “no reduction in petrol price until 1st Sept”. If I just waited till tomorrow morning, could have saved a few dollars.

Anyway, I should have learned a lesson from the parliament dissolution fiasco months ago. This time, its seems the “The cabinet decided to bring forward the enforcement date for adjustment of the new petrol price,”.

Well, at least its a good news. Now, would ICI reduce their paint price in a month or two’s time. Their new price for paints was released on 18th August. What about other industries? Right, fat chance!

With inflation at an 27 year high (8.5%) in July 2008, this comes as a bit of good news, but not sure if the impact will trickle down. We never heard of prices of goods being reduced all this while. Will there be a difference this time?

Dept of Statistics said that :

…cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose 11.2 percent in July compared to a year ago.

Among the contributing factors for (July’s inflation) were the substantial rise in the electricity tariff announced by the government… and the knock-on effect from the price increase of petrol and diesel,” it said in a statement.

The July data showed escalating prices in most categories, including transport which jumped 22.7 percent, and restaurants and hotels which rose 6.7 percent.

MIC goes multiracial!

August 11th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Only in stance, so don’t go and storm the HQ for membership forms! Samy Vellu says MIC had learnt a lesson from the General Elections:

MIC will adopt a multi-racial stance in dealing with the people’s problems, party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said here.

He said the problems facing the Indian community could only be resolved through a non-racial approach as was evident after the 2008 general election.

There must be understanding and respect among all races. There must be a give-and-take attitude. Only then can we all survive as a Malaysian race, he said here yesterday.

MIC will still represent Indians, he says and will ask for what is rightful.

We will only ask what is rightfully ours without infringing upon the rights of the other communities.

Question: Is asking for children not to be unilaterally converted by spouse who convert to Islam can be considered as “asking for what is rightfully ours without infringing upon the rights of the other communities”?

Question: Is a convert to Islam who unilaterally convert the children without spouse’ knowledge and involvement is considered an act of “asking for what is rightfully ours without infringing upon the rights of the other communities”?

Off Topic – Manchester United lifts Charity Shield after beating Portsmouth 3-1 in penalties. Full time was 0-0. Game just ended.

playing to the gallery

August 7th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


On one side, there’s condemnation of the Bar Council organised forum on conversion, but at MCCBCHST’s dinner yesterday, Prime Minister Badawi sang a different tune. He says that more interfaith dialogues should be held to ensure continuous harmony among Malaysians of different religions. He would ask Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to continue having such dialogues.

“I will tell Shafie to do what is good and have such meetings as regularly as he can. At some of these meetings, I plan to sit in, too,” he said at the silver jubilee dinner of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.

Abdullah assured those present that what he said was not merely a ploy to pacify and please non-Muslims.

“I understand your concerns and try to do whatever I can to find solutions to issues involving non-Muslims. We are brothers and sisters who must work together and continue practising tolerance and patience as a way forward for this nation.”

Abdullah said non-Muslims, however, must understand and respect that matters relating to the aqidah (faith) of Islam could neither be “touched” nor “changed”. But he assured non-Muslims that
they would be treated fairly and justly as required by the Quran and Allah. “When we are friends, between Muslims and the non-Muslims, it is easy to work things out.”

Abdullah said he had been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the affairs of all Malaysians. “For me, justice for all is the most important thing. It is the command of Allah to be trustworthy in executing my duties. The people have trusted me and expect me to deliver. “I am here to assure you that all are protected and can enjoy living in Malaysia as Malaysians.”

Earlier, the council’s president, Datuk A. Vaithilingam, said members had discovered that by sitting together and talking through interfaith differences, potential flashpoints and major problems could be avoided and disputes settled peacefully and amicably. However, he claimed many non-Muslims felt marginalised in today’s Malaysia.

Well, can’t blame him. Politicians have to say things according to the situation. We can’t trust them.