Thursday, July 10, 2008

MIC General Assembly

My apologies for not blogging over the last couple of days. The preparations for the MIC Annual General Assembly is moving ahead full steam. It is going to be a one day affair at the Putra World Trade Centre this Saturday. This is a departure from the norm, where assemblies were held for two days i.e Saturday and Sunday. Due to financial constraints we have been forced to cut it short for a day. However, I personally feel that this is the time that we allowed delegates, who are our grass root leaders, the freedom to talk and air their views without fear or favour. We as leaders must listen and do the necessary to get back the support lost at the general elections. Well, this Assembly would be extended as it is slatted to run from 8am in the morning, right-up to the night. Hope everything turns out well. We can't afford any controversies but welcome feedback and constructive criticisms. Planning a very short trip to India but I don't know if it will materialise. My Minister (the Federal Territories Ministry) has gone on leave, so I am left with the responsibilities at Parliament and taking over his duties until he returns. Running on a very tight schedule. For those who commented a very big thank you.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Too Much Politics?

Read the Star this morning and thought that the front page of the paper made some sense. The nation is engulfed with too much politics, to a level where it is derailing, the people and their wishes.
It started late last year, with the papers calling, or better still, guessing the date of the General Elections. Then the elections was called and we had a very long campaigning period. Then the results and the analysis of the outcome of the results. The came Anwar Ibrahim's tirade that he would come to power in September. Then came the mother of all bombshells. Sexual allegations, that Anwar had sodomised one of his aides, and that the Deputy Prime Minister was involved in the brutal murder of Altantunya Shaaribu. While the allegations were of criminal in nature, the way it has been played up shows that it is politically motivated. Why can't we let the police do the talking instead of allowing politicians become the alleged person, the prosecutor and the judge. This is going a bit overboard. People are fed-up with politics. Not everything in this country revolves around politics. We should be forging ahead, thinking about the betterment of the people. My guess is that this will go on until the Umno elections slatted for end of the year. What's your take on this?

p/s: For all those who commented on my last posting, I wish to clarify that it is easy to call for a press conference or become a champion of the Indian community by asking the state assemblywomen to resign. People must understand, when in a coalition, I too am confined by certain principles of the BN. I can make noise, I can call for resignation, I can take a drastic step but is this going to help apart from making myself a hero, like a few politicians have done. What is that going to solve? We need to be one step ahead of "them". Show them that we are not downtrodden as they claim to be. Would she have said it if our community was united and did not have the crab mentality? If I were to hold a press conference and call for her resignation, the very same people who wanted me to do so would say that Saravanan is doing this for cheap publicity or better still Saravanan wants to become the champion of the community. Think about it, it is easy to give suggestions but please let the suggestions be constructive and not destructive.