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Nijhar tells why…

June 4th, 2008
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 What made me pause was this:

A large part of the Subang constituency is made up of highly-educated people. So, they would naturally vote for someone who is better educated than them,” said Nijhar, who holds a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University.

Naturally???

Anyways, contrary to earlier report about giving way to others, Nijhar clarifies the reasons for him quitting vice president post:

1. not being informed about him being dropped from 2008 election candidate list

2. sacking of Jumbo Maniam without proper hearing by the CWC due to questions on AIMST accounts.

3. rebranding exercise

Basically he tells that its Samy’s fault.

MIC vice-president Tan Sri K.S. Nijhar’s decision to quit his post last month was a culmination of factors involving party chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
His first grouse was that he had been dropped from the list of candidates for the 2008 general election. The worst cut, according to Nijhar, was that he had not been informed of the decision.

“A large part of the Subang constituency is made up of highly-educated people. So, they would naturally vote for someone who is better educated than them,” said Nijhar, who holds a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University.

“If I had stayed on as the candidate, I would have won. MIC and the Barisan Nasional would have another parlimentary seat now,” the 72-year-old added.  Nijhar, who had won the seat in 1999 and 2004, said party leaders had a responsibility to inform people in advance if they wanted to drop them. » Read more: Nijhar tells why…

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MIC Saravanan asks for PSD scholarship quota

June 4th, 2008
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Before I go into Saravanan’s proposal, lets look at the statistics – only 34 Indians got the scholarship first, before being increased to 78. There are 180 appeals pending.

Now, why would PSD want to provide quota for the Indian community? Then, others like the Orang Asli, Kadazan, Bajau, Baba Nyonya, etc. will start demanding their part from the “bumiputra” category. This will erode the portion and break up the quota further, and may deprive more Malays of their previously easily obtained scholarships.

Secondly, there should some basis for asking 250 places for the community. Is there any proof that we have 250 top achievers year after year that should be getting scholarship? Is 250 derived from some sort of formula based on Einstenian calculation?

However I agree that interview component of the scholarship award is highly subjective and may be subject to manipulation.

Instead of asking for quota, Saravanan should ask for transparency, a well represented board of interviewers, an increase in scholarship amount or a more stringent criteria.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government must not lump Indians in the non-Bumiputera category, but fix the number of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships for the community, MIC information chief Datuk M. Saravanan said yesterday.
He said under the present system, of the 2,000 PSD scholarships awarded annually, 55 per cent was allocated for Bumiputeras and the remaining 45 per cent for non-Bumiputeras.”Out of the 900 PSD scholarships for non-Bumiputeras, Indians initially received only 34, which was then increased to 70. We are now awaiting the results of about 180 appeal cases.”The Indians are already backward in terms of education, but yet we have to compete with all the other non-Bumis. The government should allocate, on an annual basis, 250 PSD scholarships for Indians,” Saravanan, who is also Federal Territories Deputy Minister, said.

“The current selection system is also flawed. The exam results constitute 70 per cent of the eligibility marks for the PSD scholarships. The rest is made up of the interview and such, which is very subjective.
“The people want transparency. If a student is the best, then he or she must be eligible for the scholarship. Now, we have students who have scored excellent marks but turned down by the PSD on the pretext that they failed in the interview.

“That half-an-hour interview decides a student’s fate. It might have taken students five years or more to obtain excellent results. Is that fair? It is not a level playing field.” – Bernama

source

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Giat Mara and Insken Indian grads urged to apply TEKUN loan

June 4th, 2008
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Its a bad statistic indeed if only 10 out of 300 students (3.3%) applied for the loan scheme. What could be the reasons?

– not interested?

– don’t know how/where/when/why?

– loan rules too strict/rigid?

MIC can’t be faulted here unless they did not provide awareness or proper information to the students.

RM3 million / 300 students is averaging  RM10000 per graduate, which is quite a substantial amount to start small business like food stall or similar business that require less capital and investment in machineries/tools.

Only 10 of the 300 Indian students who graduated from the Giat Mara centres and National Entrepreneurship Institute (Insken) last year have applied for business loans under the Young Indian Entrepreneurs Loan Scheme run by Tekun Foundation, says MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
He urged the remaining 290 students to apply for the loan from Tekun or the National Foundation for Economic Fund Group under the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry.

“Yayasan Tekun has allocated RM3 million to be disbursed as business loans for graduates of Pusat Giat Mara and Insken,” he said in a statement today.

He said the Tekun Foundation decided to issue business loans to Indian students from Giat Mara centres and Insken following discussions between the foundation and the Social Strategic Foundation (YSS), MICs social arm, last year.

Samy Vellu said although the Tekun Foundation was meant for Bumiputera entrepreneurs, its management decided to open its business loans for Indians through the help of the then Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
He said qualified Indians engaged in small-and medium-scale businesses can apply for the loan to start or to sustain and expand their businesses, ranging from small cottage to modern technological industries, food, agriculture, manufacturing and handicraft for domestic and foreign markets.

Enterprising young Indian entrepreneurs can contact YSS at Level 5, Menara Manickavasagam, at No 1, Jalan Rahmat, 50350 Kuala Lumpur, telephone (03) 4041-5958 or Fax (03) 4041-5681.

source

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Samy fires first salvo via show cause letter to challenger

June 3rd, 2008
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Looks like no time is wasted after Alex announced his intention to stand for presidency. Alex is issued with the show cause letter. Let the battle begin!

KLANG: Barely a day after he announced that he plans to run for the MIC presidency, Klang division chief Alex Thiagarasan received a show-cause letter for acting in a manner detrimental to the party yesterday. Thiagarasan said he had 14 days to explain to the party disciplinary committee why action should not be taken against him. He said at least seven branch chairmen had also received show-cause letters asking them to explain their reasons for supporting him.
The letter from the committee stated that a complaint had been received about an article in a Tamil daily on May 25, in which Thiagarasan had said party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had misappropriated Telekom shares allocated by the government, as well as government funds allocated for Tafe College and the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology.

The letter also noted that in an article in the New Straits Times, Thiagarasan had said Samy Vellu was not an asset to the MIC or Barisan Nasional. The committee also said it had received a complaint that Thiagarasan had not remitted all of the funds collected by the division for the new MIC headquarters building fund.

“This is typical of Samy Vellu. He gets rid of anyone who is a threat to his leadership,” Thiagarasan said. “This proves that nothing has changed in the MIC, despite its so-called re-branding exercise.”

On the money for the building fund, Thiagarasan said the division had unanimously agreed during its annual general meeting last month that it would be returned to all branch chairmen. So far RM30,000 of the RM37,000 collected had been returned. » Read more: Samy fires first salvo via show cause letter to challenger

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Commission for minimum wage

June 2nd, 2008
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The commission is to determine (i) which sectors should have minimum wage, and (ii) how much it should be subject to periodic review. Would it be a good news for the plantation workers, dock workers, restaurant workers, etc?

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry will set up a permanent Commission of Inquiry to determine which sectors should have a fixed minimum wage, and to review these wages on an on-going basis.

Its minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the Commission would gather first feedback from the various wage councils on which sectors should have a fixed minimum wage.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in the lobby of Parliament on Monday, he said the Commission would also work with these councils on reviewing any such fixed minimum wage on an on-going basis.

source 

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