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Hindu Sangam makes u-turn on rally

November 27th, 2007
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the same MHS which sat with glum faces behind MIC info chief saravanan saying they don't support the hindraf rally, now comes out with another statement saying its a wake-up call.

quote: "Malaysia Hindu Sangam national central council member C.M. Kopalan said the MIC and the Government had helped to fund, build, repair as well as settle relocation and land issues for temples nationwide."

Hindu Sangam: Rally a 'wake up call'
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75365
Nov 27, 07 7:30pm

The authorities must listen to the grievances aired by some 30,000 Indian Malaysians who participated in Sunday’s rally, said the Malaysian Hindu Sangam (MHS).

Describing it as a “wake up call for all Malaysians”, the influential Hindu umbrella body said the government must stop “festering wounds” within the Indian community from becoming worse.

“It is clear that there are tens of thousands of Indians in Malaysia who feel the government is not protecting their best interests,” said MHS president A Vaithilingam in a statement today.

Among others, he said, demonstrators were angered by the government and court’s inaction over infringements of religious freedoms by the “Islamic authorities”.

He cites ‘corpse-snatching’ cases between Islamic authorities and Hindus as well as the demolition of Hindu temples as examples.

“Almost all the victims (of infringements of religious freedoms) have been Hindus, fueling anger amongst the community,” he added.

Immediate measures

Vaithilingam said another catalyst to Sunday’s demonstration, organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), was the demolition of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kampung Karuppiah, Shah Alam just before Deepavali.

“The unprecedented pictures of local authority enforcement officers throwing stones at devotees and at the temple caused an uproar amongst the Indian community,” he said.

He further urged the government to take immediate measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Indian community and to ensure that the nation’s wealth is distributed equitably amongst all Malaysians.

He also urged the government to make legislative reforms to protect religious freedoms.

“We call on the courts to start acting in their role as the guardians of the fundamental liberties of minorities against oppression by the majority,” he said.

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MP Parit Sulong says destroy statues and destroy crosses in missionary schools

November 27th, 2007
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i can already see the apology coming soon, the standard "my constituency have many chisrtians (other options are women, indians, disabled people). I have them to build/repair/obtain something. I have donated RMxxx as donation for the school/hall/temple/building. Please understand, I'm not a racist or against religion. If i had accidentally said things that may have heard the rakyat, i apologise". kes tutup.

taken from http://www.parlimen.gov.my/hindex/pdf/DR-29102007.pdf – mukasurat 143-144.

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong] : …..Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya ingin menyentuh satu perkara tentang Kementerian Pelajaran iaitu sekolah-sekolah mubaligh seperti Convent, La Salle, Methodist dan sebagainya. Saya difahamkan Lembaga Pengarah di sekolah-sekolah ini sebahagiannya ditadbir dari gereja-gereja di luar negara seperti di Vatican City. Saya juga difahamkan permohonan untuk membina surau
di sebahagian sekolah-sekolah ini terpaksa mendapat kebenaran daripada Lembaga Pengarah yang mana Lembaga Pengarah ini sebahagiannya ditadbir oleh gereja. Jadi amat memalukanlah, bagi diri saya, tentang pentadbiran sekolah-sekolah ini yang masih lagi dikawal oleh pihak gereja. Begitu juga saya difahamkan tentang iklim sekolah-sekolah tersebut, banyak ibu bapa Islam menghantar anak-anak mereka ke sana, mereka kompelin sebab ada kalanya sekolah dimulakan dengan lagu-lagu gereja. Ini saya tidak tahu benar atau tidak, tetapi ia apa yang saya dapat daripada ibu bapa sendiri tetapi yang jelas di sekolahsekolah
ini terpampang simbol-simbol agama. Saya rasa kecewa di dalam negara Islam, Malaysia ini, kalau saya pergi ke sekolah convent, ada terpampang patung St. Mary di depan depan sekolah convent…

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading] : [Bangun]

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Silakan Yang Berhormat bagi Sri Gading.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Yusof bin Yacob]: Ya, Yang Berhormat bagi Sri Gading.

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading]: Bagi saya sudah tidak terkejut, Yang Berhormat bagi Parit Sulong, cerita ini… [Disampuk] Bukan soal biasa. Soalnya kenapa boleh berlaku seperti ini? Satu. Hari Raya yang lepas, saya diberitahu oleh seorang bapa, waktu Aidilfitri disambut, sekolah jenis-jenis ini tidak ditutup. Terima kasih.

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Bukan sahaja patung, tetapi Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat pergilah, tengoklah salib Kristian diletakkan di depan-depan sekolah. Saya tidak faham Kementerian Pelajaran, adakah pegawai-pegawai tidak nampak atau memang dasar kita membenarkan perkara ini. Walau bagaimanapun, saya sebagai orang yang bertanggungjawab kepada diri saya, agama, bangsa dan tanah air ini, saya menyatakan pendirian saya bahawa patung-patung ini hendaklah dirobohkan, salib-salib ini hendaklah dimusnahkan dan pengaruhpengaruh gereja di sekolah-sekolah ini hendaklah dihentikan.
Begitu juga dana yang dikumpulkan di sekolah-sekolah ini. Adakah kita mendapat laporan? Kalau boleh kementerian mendedahkan dana sekolah-sekolah ini. Saya difahamkan ada sekolah-sekolah ini juga ditaja oleh pihak-pihak gereja. Dana-dananya datang daripada gereja-gereja dan adakah pihak kementerian pantau sumber-sumbernya? Adakah audit-audit dilaksanakan?

and i received this from a forwarded email:

Below is the translation of the hansard at the Third Meeting of The Fourth Session of Eleventh Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) on Monday, 29 October 2007 as seen at http://www.parlimen.gov.my/hindex/pdf/DR-29102007.pdf – pages 143-144.

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Yang Di-Pertua, I would like to touch on a matter regarding the Ministry of Education, which are Christian missionary schools like Convent, La Salle, Methodist, and so forth. I was made to understand that the Board of Directors at these schools are partially administered by churches in foreign countries, for example in the Vatican City. I was also made to understand that the application to build a 'surau' in some of these schools had to go through the approval of these Board of Directors whereby they are partially administered by the church. Therefore, it shames me that the school administrations are still controlled by the church. I was also made to understand that many Muslim parents send their kids to these schools, and that they have complained that sometimes, the school is started with church songs. I do not know if this is true, but what I discovered from these parents are the display of religious symbols. I feel disappointed that in an Islamic country, Malaysia, if I go to a convent school, the statue of St. Mary is displayed in the front of the school.

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading]: [Stands up]

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Please proceed, Yang Berhormat for Sri Gading.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Yusof bin Yacob]: Yes, Yang Berhormat for Sri Gading.

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading]: I am not shocked at all, Yang Berhormat for Parit Sulong. It's not just a simple question. The question is, why has this happened? One. During the last Hari Raya, I was told by a father, when Aidilfitri was celebrated, these types of schools were not closed. Thank you.

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Not only statues, but fellow Yang Berhormat, go and see for yourselves, Christian crosses are displayed in front of schools. I do not understand the Ministry of Education, did the officers not see that, or is it our policy to allow such a thing? Nevertheless, I, as a responsible person to my religion, race, and country, I state my views that these statues need to be demolished, these crosses need to be destroyed and church influences in these schools need to be stopped. Also, the funds that are collected at these schools. Do we have a report? If possible, the ministry should reveal the funds for these schools. I was made to understand that these schools are also sponsored by the church.

Translation taken from:
http://www.darnmalaysia.com/2007/11/23/morons-of-parliament-demolish-christian-statues-destroy-the-crosses/

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kit siang suggests parlimentary committee to investigate indian community problem

November 27th, 2007
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this can be one of the recommendations that MIC can make use. save their time trying to think what to suggest!

Lim: Don't ignore cry of desperation
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75326
Nov 27, 07 1:41pm

If the cabinet is truly serious about addressing the long-standing grievances of the Indian Malaysian community, it should back a proposal for a parliamentary select committee. 

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who issued this call after earlier mooting the idea, said the ‘committee on the marginalisation of the Indian community’ should have three months to come up with a report.

He described the Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, which drew some 30,000 Indian protestors from all over the country, as a “cry of desperation”. 

The rally was in support of a US$4-trillion class-action suit filed against the British government for bringing the Indians here as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years.

“The Barisan Nasional leaders, led by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, should stop their truculent and confrontational responses to the demonstration,” Lim said in a statement today.

“Instead of threatening all sorts of dire consequences against the Hindraf organisers and supporters, the cabinet should acknowledge the legitimacy of the long-standing grievances of the Indian community (which is) becoming the most marginalised group.”

Other ways of showing that the government is serious, he said, is by releasing all 136 Hindraf supporters arrested during the demonstration and not to charge the organisers. 

The government should also hold an open inquiry into allegations of excessive force by the police, which saw water cannon being deployed and teargas being fired during the six-hour stand-off with protesters. 

Urgent issues

In listing the issues that the select committee should address, Lim added that it should be sufficiently empowered to make recommendations on: 

  • Increase in the number of Indian youth dying in police custody
  • Worsening socio-economic inequality between the Indian poor and rich and between other communities
  • Ineffective redress of social ills in the community
  • Policy on financial allocation for Tamil schools
  • University intake policy, which is a major source of distress for the community
  • State unwillingness to help resolve the Maika scandal
  • Closure into the Kampung Medan killings, as a public inquiry has not been held into the racially-motivated incident of 2001
  • Low-cost housing needs of the Indian poor
  • Aggressive displacement of the Indian rural poor due to the breakdown of the plantation economy
  • Rampant demolition of Hindu temples and disregard of the religious rights and sensitivities of the Indian community

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Why I walked on Nov 25 by Geetha K 27/11

November 27th, 2007
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Why I walked on Nov 25
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/75320
Geetha K
Nov 27, 07 12:31pm
Before the break of dawn on Sunday, I received a SMS informing me that thousands of Indians had gathered at the Batu Caves temple in Kuala Lumpur and truckloads of Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) personnel were also there. My blood chilled.

Debates on why I would walk and why I wouldn’t be walking became irrelevant. It was why I HAD to walk.

Around 8am, by the time I had arrived at the heart of all the excitement, scores of Indian men drenched by the water cannons were heading away from Jalan Ampang. It appeared that the authorities had started their peacekeeping duties very early.

People whizzed along on motorcycles, the police presence was overwhelming and the anxious protestors were mostly upbeat.

As I walked along Jalan Kia Peng, I experienced, for the first time, the stinging sensation of tear gas. Prior to this, little did I realise how painful and nauseating it would be. And this was not even a fresh blast. It made me wonder how I would handle being in the thick of things-if that were to happen.

And It happened, not too far away.

The lethal cocktails were fired liberally as people scurried about to escape the choking fumes. Between tears and dribbling saliva, I continued my march through the city’s business heartland.

Like all species subjected to constant persecution, the protesters too soon became immune to the warnings, threats and chemical attacks. They kept their resistance and played the game to the end. There was the Queen’s figurehead on one banner and numerous posters of Mahatma Gandhi – I couldn’t help smiling as I thought of how some of my more posh friends, Indians included, who would sneer at such imbecilic measures.

Leaderless, but not clueless

But back to the Great Indian March! The crowds were obviously leaderless but clueless they were not.

Eavesdropping on sporadic bits of random conversations was the best way to get into the pulse of this long suffering race. Something neither Nat Tan or Haris Ibrahim could have achieved, I assumed. But something both would have been proud to be part of.

When Haris did make an appearance (as a Bar Council observer, not a participant mind you), he was treated like some sort of a hero – going by the way a small crowd thronged towards him and his mates.

The clear embarrassment on the lawyer’s face was evidence of how desperate the crowd was.

I was gratified to learn that the protest was not about the money, the queen or even the world learning about their plight. It was simply an act of breaking the shackles, which was something the average Malaysian who had never experienced life as a marginalised, ignored, economically, educationally and socially deprived Indian, could understand.

Against the backdrop of the gleaming, iconic twin towers, thousands of Indians had gathered, a sight never witnessed by our nation’s capital before. The few women present were mostly middle-aged, dressed not in the least like the swanky Klites.

It was quite painful to stand there and watch these women being hauled up and pushed into police trucks, with a look of fear etched on their faces – not unlike stray dogs rounded-up by local council officers.

If this was the treatment meted out in public imagine what they must have faced back in the police stations.

Police and thief

Rows and rows of FRU personnel, plainclothes police officers, fire engines, dog units, red cross teams, low flying helicopters and thousands of defiant, I must say resilient, protesters played cat and mouse for a good six hours.

Some protestors even resorted to flinging the tear gas canisters back to where they came from, much to the shock of those who had fired them. This brought back childhood memories of playing police and thief, but this time around, it was not clear as to who were the good guys and bad guys.

At about 1.30pm, the march drew to an end with the appearance of P Uthayakumar who delivered a short, but stinging speech, declaring victory for the poor.

The poor, who he said have had their places of worship destroyed by the dozens, whose economic share had dwindled, whose number of vernacular schools had dropped, whose enrollment in institutes of higher learning had reduced and whose participation in the civil service had nosedived.

Now which other race in Malaysia could say the same? I would love to hear the PM’s answer on this, especially after his utterly lame response of ‘there are poor people amongst all races…”.

True, but which other race faces this much of marginalisation and discrimination?
Even more galling is the PM’s pledge to continue working with the MIC .

Are you Mister Prime Minister too stung and blinded by the overwhelming use of tear gas by your loyal faithfuls?

But really, why did I walk on Sunday? To compare events as they happened and as reported by the mainstream Malaysian media was one agenda of course.

I also did not want to be filled with questions and doubts when reading postings on the electronic media, which many members of our ruling elite accuse of being ‘full of lies’.

Nevertheless, the reason closest to my heart was simply to be there in flesh and spirit for my fellow Malaysians.

GEETHA K is a Kuala Lumpur-based freelance writer.

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MK report on Hindraf trio discharged from sedition

November 27th, 2007
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Hindraf trio discharged from sedition
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75273
Soon Li Tsin
Nov 26, 07 12:45pm

Three key leaders of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) were today discharged without being acquitted by the Klang Sessions Court from the sedition charge they faced. 

Judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris ordered the discharge as the prosecution had failed to submit the original Tamil transcript of the alleged seditious remarks made by P Uthayakumar, P Waythamoorthy and VS Ganapathy Rao.

The prosecution led by DPP Ishak Yusoff has also failed to get the Malay translation of the allegedly seditious speeches officially certified by relevant bodies.

“The court and the (defence) lawyers are not convinced that the speeches were seditious because the Malay translation is not clear.

“What is important is the actual Tamil text with a certified translation (into Malay). Is the prosecution basing the offence on the original words in Tamil or the translated version in Malay?

“I believe the gist of the offence is not stated here. I cannot see what (allegedly seditious words) the prosecution is focusing on,” Zunaidah said, before discharging the trio.

She, however, said the prosecution can recharge the three once the documentation has been sorted out.

They were originally charged last Friday under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act, based on police investigations pertaining to reports lodged against them in relation to their speeches made between 8.30am and 11.15pm at a forum in Batang Berjuntai, Selangor on Nov 16.

The offence is punishable with a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or a maximum jail sentence of three years, or both.

‘Return bail money’

Zunaidah had also ruled that bail money held by the court over the weekend was to be returned.

Hindraf legal adviser Uthayakumar and lawyer Ganapathy had posted bail of RM800 each on Friday, but chairperson Waythamoorthy had refused the bail offer as a mark of protest.

The trio were represented by a team of lawyers including M Manoharan, A Sivanesan, S Surendran, Gobind Singh Deo, R Kenghadaran and M Kulasegaran.

Amer Hamzah Arshad and Ramdas Tikamdas appeared for the Bar Council and National Human Rights Society respectively.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng were among political leaders who were present in court today.

A crowd of about 100 inside the courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge discharged the trio. They were then hoisted on the shoulders of supporters and paraded victoriously down Jalan Dato Hamzah – also known as Little India – bringing traffic to a standstill.

A larger crowd – estimated to be around 4,000 – had gathered at the nearby Padang Chetty watched by an equally strong presence of the Federal Reserve Unit. The crowd dispersed after several speeches were made by the Hindraf leaders.

During an impromptu press conference in front of the Sri Nagara Thandayuthapani temple adjacent to the field, Waythamoorthy broke his three-day hunger strike amidst cheers from supporters.

“It (fasting) was a good experience,” he told Malaysiakini with a smile.

His brother Uthayakumar insisted that he will “continue to speak the truth” and said he was not deterred by the sedition charge.

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