SELAMAT HARI RAYA

LIKE TO WISH ALL MUSLIMS A SELAMAT HARI RAYA. BE SAFE ON THE ROADS. THE HOLIDAYS ARE TO BE ENJOYED WITH LOVED ONES AND NOT SOMETHING WHICH SHOULD BE REMEMBERED FOR SORROWFUL REASONS. BE HAPPY!

The Ampang Jaya Temple Fiasco

Over the last week, a lot had been said about the Ampang Jaya temple demolition by Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya enforcement officials. However, till today nothing concrete has come out from the local council or the Selangor state government apart from statement after statement by these two bodies. State excos are being rhetoric, with one even saying that it was not a temple but just a shrine.
Does that give the right for improper demolition of the said temple? MIC on the other hand has asked for answers. Will the temple be rebuilt? Will it receive any form of compensation? Will the state government apologise for the demolition? etc.
These are some questions which had been left unanswered. Now there is also the question of Hindraf, which incidentially was set up to save guard temples in the country, among others. The deafing silence by Hindraf is also another issue. Why the silence? Is it because the state was run by the Pakatan government? Why are there no forth coming statements? Maybe, Hindraf is busy trying to ensure the release of its five leaders that the temple demolition had taken a backseat.
Even yesterday several thousands Indians were back on the streets of Kuala Lumpur demanding the release of the Hindraf Five. Would it be better to have staged the protest at the site of the temple? Why was not this done? Refer to a Malaysiakini report at http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/90481. Some may not be able to access this, you have to subsribe. I have reproduced it below.
Back to the question of the temple. The Selangor state government should not repeat the mistake done by the former Selangor government, who had in my view, ignored the plea of the Indian community in demolishing temples. That government, especially the then Menteri Besar totally disregarded the views of the community, MIC included. They suffered the backlash at the March general election.
Now Pakatan is going the same way. The MB has not even commented on the issue. Is it because of fear that the government might face backlash from the Malay community for speaking for Hindus?
p/s: Please come up with sensible arguements. This post is not discussing if MIC was effective in stopping demolition of temples. It is aimed at obtaining comments that would safeguard our temples in the future, may it be in BN controlled states or otherwise. It is not about MIC or Samy Vellu bashing. It is about Hindus and the Malaysian Indian community!
p/s: Kavitha of Puchong please check your facts the next time you write. Also please refer to the Hindraf website. They have finally come out with a statement. And for your information even the Pakatan MP who said it was demolished for renovation has even denied saying that. Please try to have an intelligent comment after checking facts. Thanks for dropping by.

ISA detainees' wives: Hindraf has changed

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Sep 26, 08 7:53pm

The struggle of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is different now compared to when it started some 10 months ago under the leadership of the five who are currently under Internal Security Act (ISA) detention, said the wives of two leaders today.
Dr M Kalaivani and B Buvaneswary, the wives of K Kenghadharan and V Ganabatirau, respectively, said they were not comfortable with the direction in which the movement has taken.
Speaking at a press conference in Kelana Jaya, Kalaivani said aside from the goal of obtaining the release of the Hindraf leaders, what is of utmost importance is that the Indian community's problems are alleviated.
Both these goals can be affected without rallies planned by those now coordinating Hindraf activities.
On the contrary, they said the rallies may actually serve to harm the chances of the five's release.
"What I know from my husband, the struggle was different in the beginning and it seems to have taken a different turn at the present moment. I was not involved in Hindraf at all so I cannot comment on what their principles were," said Kalaivani.
"(But) from what we see in the present leadership, we’re not very comfortable with it," she added.
Citing plans by Hindraf to gather 10,000 people at Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Hari Raya open house later next month, she said this would serve as a form of ‘intimidation’ rather than anything else.
Asked if her husband insisted on supporting the movement along such lines in the even he is released, Kalaivani said she would not support him.
"I feel that there are a lot of ways to help the community. You would have to ask my husband, but ... I would not support him if this is how the struggle is going to be.
"I personally feel there is a lot of other ways to continue helping the community, and this we would definitely do.
"If fact, I might even join him to do it together (if he chooses other means of helping the Indian community)," she said.

Samy Vellu's efforts appreciated

During the press conference, the wives also recorded their appreciation for MIC president S Samy Vellu and other quarters who are pushing for the five's release.
Commenting on the statements by certain quarters who questioned the "integrity and sincerity" of Samy Vellu in declaring he had met with Abdullah and sought the release of the Hindraf leaders, Kalaivani said her family’s only wish was to see her husband's return.
"I'm sure it’s the same for the other detainees as well and we sincerely hope that no individuals would continue questioning the integrity of any leaders or individuals from any party or question why they are asking for the release of our husbands.
"We appreciate the efforts taken by anybody to secure the release of our husbands, and we sincerely hope that the prime minister, the Deputy Prime Minister (Najib Abdul Razak) and the Home Minister (Syed Hamid Albar) would seriously consider their release very soon," she said.
source: Malaysiakini.

The "Multiracial" Opposition

The Opposition claim that they represent the multiracial, cross section of the Malaysian society. I did some surfing and managed to get the list of top national office bearers of PKR and DAP. I realised that these two parties, although they claim to represent a multiracial Malaysia, in actual fact do not have a multiracial crowd of leaders, representing the equal proportion or percentage of races in the country. We need not discuss PAS, as the party only believes in one cause -- an Islamic state. Needless to say, their leaders are all Muslim.
I am not being a racist or anything like that, it is just that I am fed-up with the lies and baseless claims of these two parties, namely PKR and DAP. If these two parties want to champion the causes of a multiracial Malaysia, then the national leadership line-up of these two parties should also reflect the proportion of races living in this blessed land.

Here is the breakdown according to race in PKR. It's top national leadership has 30 Malays, 8 Chinese and 5 Indians.
Out of the five Indians in PKR, three are national council members (N.Gobalakrishnan, Irene Fernandez and S. Manikavasagam), one deputy secretary general (Dr Xavier Jayakumar) and one vice-president (R.Sivarasa).

In the DAP, it is just as bad. It's top national leadership has 25 Chinese, 5 Indians and 2 Malays.
The Indians here are chairman (Karpal Singh), vice-chairman (M.Kulasegaran), deputy secretary general (Prof P. Ramasamy), and two committee members (Gobind Singh Deo and P. Gunasekaran).

Some who read this will say that although there are limited number of Indians in these two parties, others, meaning those of other races in the party, will not differentiate among races in fighting for a better Malaysia and that they represent all Malaysians regardless of race and religion.

But if this was the case, why not let the party be equally represented? Why is there a majority of a certain race in the parties i.e Malays in PKR and Chinese in DAP. Where does that leave the Indians?

In both the parties, there is not a single Indian leader who holds a key post. The chairmanship of Karpal in the DAP, as we all know, is just a rubber stamp for decisions made by the secretary general. To further the point, we have yet to see Karpal coming out with concrete proposal or recommendation for the betterment of the Malaysian Indian community.

My advice would be please do not be hoodwinked. We have to remain united not divided in trying address all our problems.

UPDATES: With regret, I wish to state that most comments on the above article have failed to get the point. Either people are blind or myopic in their view of the issue or are defending something they don't even have the slightest knowledge about i.e the system in which these opposition parties operate.
My contention was that while DAP claims to be multiracial it has only five Indian leaders in the top brass. The same goes for PKR. Both parties have also yet to state how they are going to uplift the community if, and that's a big IF they come to power.
If you wish to comment, let it be sensible please. I am not putting up articles for people to say what they like. Get involved in an intelligent argument. But I know for some, that would be difficult.
While it is easy to lump all these leaders together in the Pakatan Rakyat basket, my question is about the individual parties. Anyway as for Pakatan Rakyat, when parties which do not share the same or similar ideology or aim come together and try to grasp power, are they really doing this for the people or do they only want power. And IF they do come to power, what next? What would be their policies on just say an Islamic state. Pas will say Malaysia is an Islamic state while DAP will claim otherwise. They can't even find a common ground.
Then you have the Indian problem. Pas will say save the Malays while the DAP and PKR will say lets plan something for the Indians. Thats only planning, mind you!
That aside, my contention in the above article is, can or would opposition Indians leaders come-up with a proper proposal to uplift Indians. These are the kind of inputs or arguments that I expected from the comments. You can support the opposition, that is not an issue but please give me intelligent comments. Calling people names is not going to help.
CHANGE PEOPLE!

ANWAR'S SEPT 16

Sept 16 came but where is the promised fireworks by Anwar Ibrahim, the de factor leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat? He promised that today he would takeover the government. Even as off last night the Opposition leader had said he would takeover the government today. But alas, it turned out to be an empty vessel making a lot of noise.
Some people are angry, some consoling, some hopeful that it would really happen. But I personally don't think so. At a press conference today, the leader or so-called leader said he wants to meet the Prime Minister to tell Abdullah that he does not want a curfew imposed and that the transition of power done in an orderly manner. What a load of bull.
He also claims that he has 31 BN MPs under his fold and that more are joining by the hour. Thats a laughable. Just wait another few days then and maybe all 222 MPs would be in PKR since they are joining by the hour! When asked for the list of MPs, Anwar as usual was elusive.
If Anwar had the 31 MPs as he claims, he would have made a big huha over it. He would have organised a march to Istana Negara and another at Putrajaya. He would have asked the King to declare him Prime Minister. He would have virtually stormed into the PM's office or the Parliament. That is Anwar. He strives on controversies.
But this time he has over stepped his boundaries by promising the date he would come to power. That was a mistake. Now his credibility is at stake. The people would have to reevaluate Anwar's credibility all over again!

p/s And Mr OldFart, bye-bye. Please don't waste your time and mine contributing if you don't have anything to contribute. I don't mind losing one person. At least the blog would be cleaner.
For those who don't know what I am talking about, the person using the nick has used foul language etc despite several warnings. I have always published what he had to say even if it was hurtful to others but I guess like Anwar, he had over stepped his boundaries too. Bye-Bye pal!

AHMAD ISMAIL SUSPENDED

Below is the news article of Ahmad Ismail suspended for 3-years by Umno. Does he deserve a stiffer punishment?


KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail has been suspended from the party for three years with immediate effect for making a disparaging remark at a political ceramah in Permatang Pauh last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Wednesday.
The Umno president said the party's supreme council meeting Wednesday found that Ahmad's statements and actions, which had caused anxiety and drawn protests from the Barisan Nasional component parties, were serious.
As such, a decision was made to suspend his rights in the party under Clause 20.9 of the party constitution, he told reporters after chairing the two-hour meeting here.
Ahmad had caused a polemic with his statement at the ceramah on Aug 23 that the Chinese community are immigrants in the country and are not entitled to equal rights as the bumiputeras.
The statement had drawn anger from Gerakan and MCA leaders who demanded that he make a public apology but he had refused to do so.
"He will be stripped of whatever posts he now holds which are related to the party or the people or in his capacity as a representative of the party," said Abdullah, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.
Asked whether Ahmad could appeal the decision, he said: "Normally, everyone has a right to appeal."
On whether action would be taken against the newspaper which reported Ahmad's statement, he said the decision would be made by the Home Ministry.
"Matters relating to the press, matters relating to the actions of people outside the party, as I've just said, will be decided by the relevant government departments or ministries like the Home Ministry and the Royal Malaysia Police."
He said that if the political parties sensed that something had potential to create a bad situation in the country, they should lodge police reports and the same applied to the people if they felt that something not right had occurred, so that action could be taken under the law.
Abdullah said the Umno supreme council also felt that all the BN components should also be firm and take disciplinary action against any of their members who act or make statements that can cause anger and sour relations among the component parties.
"These are the two decisions made in connection with the matter," he said.
Abdullah said he also informed the meeting that the cabinet this morning discussed the situation on racial ties in the country and expressed the feeling that the signs were not good and the situation could lead to racial tensions.
"So, when many things are raised, when things are spoken about which touch on racial sensitivities in the country... matters that are not normally raised are raised and become an issue. Matters which should not be discussed are brought up and this draws various reactions," Abdullah said.
He said that all this while his government had been able to control the situation so that nothing untoward occurred but "we cannot allow this situation to continue."
The prime minister said he hoped that the people would understand that public order must be maintained through law enforcement.
"This is what we want because with one heart like this... order, peace, racial goodwill have given us the chance to develop our country so that the peole can enjoy progress, peace and security.
He had conveyed all this to the meeting, he said, adding: "We must love our nation. We must do whatever it takes to avoid clashes, things that pose a threat. We must save Malaysia from racial clashes."
Asked whether the government would use the Internal Security Act (ISA) to maintain public order, he said that only the Home Minister could sign the order for the use of the act and this also only if he really believed that the person could threaten national security.
Asked on the freedom of speech, Abdullah said although Malaysia did not restrict the freedom to speak, the laws of the country must be respected and given priority.
"Our laws are formulated in Parliament and our members of Parliament are elected by the people. We are democratic. We must understand that no one can, in the name of freedom, say what he or she likes to the extent of jeopardising public order, hurting others and violating the law," he said.
source: BERNAMA