RECAP : Temples & Hinduism

With all the uproar on Hindraf & temple demolition, I thought i should recall one of my letter to editor way back in 2001 which was first published on 1st June, 2001 in the The Star Daily and was also published in Malaysiakini, New Straits Times and The Sun Daily.

I urge my non-hindu friends to read this as they would be able to comprehend the complexity and multitude of problems facing the Hindus.

Nah, I would rather say complexity and multitude of problems created by the so called followers and believers.
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Keeping tabs on HinduismFrom K. Balan, Batu Caves (via e-mail)

ISLAM is the official religion of Malaysia. However, Malaysians are free to practise other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity as guaranteed in the Constitution.
As a Hindu, I am grateful to be in a country where my religious belief is recognised and respected by various races.
In fact, people of other races also join in some of the religious celebrations such as Thaipusam.
While Islam is being monitored and regulated by the Jabatan Agama Islam, I regret there is no such institution that monitors Hinduism, its temples, priests and their practices.
There are thousands of Hindu temples built in the country where the Hindu population is about 1.8 million.
A large number of these temples have been built illegally over the years without much interference from the authorities because they are in secluded areas.
I remember the MIC did urge all the temples to register with them to enable these temples to be legalised and quite a number did not do so.
Looking at the number of temples and places they are built, it seems that it is not compulsory to register or obtain approval with any religious body before a temple is built.
It is only when the authorities take action that the temple committee will create an uproar and find ways to legalise their temple.
If I am not mistaken, there are at least eight temples in the small town of Labis, Johor.
In Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, there are two huge temples built near each other while in Jalan Ipoh there are at least three.
There are also temples like the ones in Brickfields and Bangsar whose unwritten rules state that they are to be patronised only by certain races.
Are they necessary for a very small Hindu population in our country?
Every year, committee members of these temples go around visiting Indian houses looking for donations.
Why build temples when there are no funds to maintain them?
The majority of these temples are headed by local politicians with prayers and rituals conducted by Malaysian priests trained in India or priests of Indian nationality.
These priests are trained by different gurus or schools of thought in India and practices which had been taught by their gurus and the legitimacy of their rituals and practices are in question.
From my experience, I find that almost all temple priests conduct the evening prayer sessions in different ways and the devotees usually have no clue whether it is proper and legitimate.
The same applies to ceremonies for weddings, funerals and house warming. There seems to be no standard procedure on how a prayers session or a ceremony is to be conducted.
Who is monitoring the conduct of the priests, temples and those unscrupulous companies who use the name of God to sell their products?
How do the followers find out who is saying and doing the right thing? Where do the public go to if there are any grouses related to conduct of some temples and their practices?
There may be articles and guidelines in the Tamil newspapers and magazines but usually they are confusing.
What about those who can't read Tamil?

RESPONSE FROM HINDU SANGAM

Hindu Sangam doing the needfulFrom A. Vaithilingam, President, Malaysia Hindu Sangam. (via e-mail, The Star )
.
I REFER to the letter, "Keeping tabs on Hinduism" (The Star, June 1).
It is not surprising your publication, which has previously only provided sparse coverage on matters relating to Hinduism, has now found cause to provide such prominence to K. Balan's letter with what appears to be an intention to belittle the religion.
One wonders what treatment this letter will get from you.
Balan's ignorance of many of the issues concerning the administration and coordination of Hinduism and its practice in Malaysia is probably a direct result of his complaint in the last two paragraphs of his letter, that only the Tamil dailies and magazines provide extensive coverage on matters relating to Hinduism.
It is a fact that while generally all Malaysian media organisations obviously mainly focus on Islam, being the official religion of the country, the English language publications more often than not tend to publish extensive news mostly on Christianity.
Coverage on other religions tend to border on the negative.
It is unfair for Balan to compare the powers of the authorities governing Islam to that of Hinduism.
No religion in this country other than Islam has established official frameworks regulated by statutory provisions within which the workings of the religion can be administered.
As for the monitoring of Hindu temples, priests and all forms of ceremonies, the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, as the recognised national coordinating body for Hindus in Malaysia, is striving to do the needful.
Further, the Sangam has taken steps to form a National Advisory Board for Hindus consisting of top spiritual leaders and other experts in the various sects of Hinduism to advise the Sangam.
A guide book on funerals has been prepared and a book on wedding ceremonies is now in progress. There is, however, no law making it compulsory for a place of worship to be registered as such.
In recent years, the MIC, being the leading political party representing the Indian community most of whom are Hindus has, with the help of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, undertaken a survey (and not a registration) of Hindu temples in the country.
Balan has taken note only of the Hindu temples in Labis, Sentul, Brickfields and Bangsar.
He should take a walk in those areas and note the number of prominent traditional churches and the many small churches operating in shop-houses which far exceed the number of Hindu temples.
It is neither unnatural nor uncommon for places of worship of any religion to follow a particular sect or race.
Why just pick on Hindu temples only? Hindu temples in Malaysia are open to all Hindus for worship.
As a Hindu, Balan only seems to be aware of the numerous collections of funds by temples.
In Malaysia, the Government looks after the mosques, Islamic centres and the teachings of Islam.
All other non-Muslim institutions have to raise their own funds entirely and are largely dependent on their respective devotees.
It is true temples are facing an acute shortage of trained priests.
Parents prefer their sons to become professionals earning more than RM1,500 after graduation whilst a fully trained priest after three to six years of training will start off with only about RM500.
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam together with the Malaysian Achargars (Priests) Association and the Malaysia Hindu Dharma Mamandram is looking into the possibility of training local priests to meet the shortage.
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam is now conducting nation-wide one-day seminars at district and state levels for leaders of Hindu temples to guide them on the proper management of their temples and the conducting of rituals.
These leaders will also be trained to place more importance on their temples becoming community service centres in their respective areas.
Balan and others who wish to know more about Hinduism and the activities of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam can contact us at: 40414669 or fax: 40447304, e-mail: hsangam@po.jaring.my.


MY REPLY TO HINDU SANGAM

Dear Mr Vaitilingam,
I refer to my article in the Star (01 June 2001) and your reply to The Star (14 June 2001).
Thank You for the long reply.
The fact is that my letter was edited at lenght and not fully published. This is perhaps why you have answered in a very defensive mode.
Below is the full text of my letter.
Monitor Hindu Temples, Priests And Their Practices
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. However the Malaysians are free to practice other religion such as Hinduism, Buddha, Christian and others as guaranteed in the constitution.
As a Hindu, I am grateful to be in a country where my religious belief is recognised and respected by various races. In fact people of other races also joins in some of the religious celebrations such as the Thaipusam, which has also become one of the main tourist attractions of the country.
While religions such as Islam is monitored and regulated by agencies such as the Jabatan Agama Islam under the federal and state governments, I regret that there is no such institution that monitors the Hindu religion, temples, Hindu priests and their practices.
There are thousands of Hindu temples built in the country where the population of Hindus reach about 1.8 million. A large number of these temples are built illegally over the years without much interference from the authorities due to temples built at secluded areas. I remember the MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) did sometime ago urged all the temples to register with them to enable these temples to be legalised and quite a number did not do so.
In Malaysia, it is a believe that anyone can built anything and that includes temples, anywhere as long as the land area does not belong to others. Some Hindus even have their own personal temples near their homes and conduct their own prayers.
Looking at the number of temples in the country and places they are built, I don't think that it has been made compulsory to register or obtain approval with any religious bodies before a temple can be built. It is only when authorities takes action do the temple committee creates an uproar and find ways to protect and legalise their temple. So much freedom for freedom of religion in this country.
For example, if I am not mistaken, there are at least 8 temples in the small town of Labis, Johor. In Sentul, there is two huge temples built near to each other while at Jalan Ipoh there is at least three temples. That's not about it, there are also some temples like the ones in Brickfields and Bangsar whose unwritten rules states that the temple is to be patronised only by certain races.
Are these temples necessary for a very small Hindu population in our country. The same applies to other towns and cities where majority of these temples are hardly patronised except for on Fridays and days when they have their annual celebration.
Every year committee members of these temples goes around visiting Indian houses looking for donations. Why is it necessary to built temples when there are no funds to maintain it.
I usually receive no less than a dozen visits every year from committee members of various temples in Kuala Lumpur looking for donations. I usually refuse to contribute if they do not posses necessary permits to solicit donations, which many of them don't.
Majority of these temples are headed by local politicians with prayers and rituals helmed by Malaysian priest trained in India or priest of Indian nationality. These priests are trained by different gurus or school of thought in India and practices what been taught by their gurus. This is where the legitimacy of their rituals and practices are in question.
From my experience of attending prayers in many different temples, I find almost all of the temple priests conduct the evening prayers sessions in different ways and the devotees usually have no clue whether what is being conducted is proper and legitimate.
The same applies to other ceremonies such as for weddings, funerals, house warming and others. There seems to be no standard procedure on how a prayers session or a ceremony is to be conducted.
One example is the wedding ceremony. I have attended a wedding ceremony helmed by one of the most popular priest in the country. On that occasion, before the wedding couple ties the knot, the priest asked both the bride and groom to profess verbally their agreement to live together as husband and wife, similar to the way conducted in a Christian wedding.
I have not seen such procedure being practised by any other priest. Whether this is the correct procedure is anyone's guess. I asked few people who were present at the wedding and no one could give me an explanation.
So far I have not seen any consistencies in the way these ceremonies are conducted by the priests of different temples. And nobody seems to know which priest is doing the right way. Probably I lack religious education, but I can't accept the fact that there are many ways that a religious ceremony or rituals can be conducted. When this happens in almost all the temples that I have been, I have lost confidence in these priest whom I believe are not monitored and their practices are definitely not regulated.
Some of them have clearly deviated from the normal teachings that public knows and understands. Some of the priest claims they can chase the ghosts away and performs strange rituals where goats and chickens are sacrificed. There are also many other strange rituals conducted occasionally but nowadays it is confined to rural areas and estates.
The conduct of some of the priest are also questionable. I have also seen a priest who drinks and dances in a wedding procession in Rawang, a priest that goes to Casino, a priest who wears kilos of jewellery in Kluang, Johor and another priest who says men whose ears are not pierced are not a Hindu. I don't have my ears pierced and immediately I was declared a non-Hindu.
I also have experience where I was given different dates for a wedding ceremony by priest of different temples. Both priests told me that the date given by them are the most auspicious ones.
Only later that I found out that the dates given are those most convenient to the priest to be booked for the wedding ceremony and not really the most auspicious date as claimed. Basically I was conned by two priest from two reputable temples. I believe these priest have conned many people over the years for monetary gains.
There are also some popular priests who goes on air in local radio station to endorse religious products by local companies.
On the other hand, there are also some companies who claims that their products are clean and pure to be used by religious purposes. They use RTM Radio Six to promote their product and uses various religious verses, sayings and quotes with their own interpretation to substantiate their claims.
Who is monitoring the conduct of the priests, temples and those unscrupulous companies who uses the name of god to sell their product. How do the public clarify and find out who is saying and doing the right thing? Where do the public go to if there are any grouses related to conduct of some temples and it's practices?
There may be some writings and guideline in the Tamil newspapers and magazines but usually they are written in a way that confuses the public. What about those who can't read Tamil? Where do they go for information?
I hope the relevant authority will clarify and also start taking action before this goes out of control and more and more people get cheated and unknowingly deviate from true and legitimate Hindu teaching.

First I am obliged to give you some information on my background so that you will understand my opinions better.

I am a malay educated and only in my form five I managed to learn Tamil (on my own ) although I am not a Tamil. I came from a school where myself and two my brother was the only Indian in a school of 2,000 students in Felda Kota Tinggi, Johor. I have lived in at least 8 estates in my younger days as my father was a estate conductor who was always transfered every two years.

1. Belittling Religion ?

First, I would like to express my regret that you have accused me of attempting to belittle the religion. I have no such intention. I also regret that this accusation came from a President Of an organisation which represents (if it is true) a religion which is supposed to forgive, create awareness, clarify, be kind and polite enough make people understand clearly matters related to religion. As a Hindu I take it as an insult.

2. Being Ignorant

You also claimed that I am ignorant. Of course, not because I choose to ignore, it is because the activities and efforts by related organisation (if it is true that they are active as claimed in your response) were hardly publicised. Am I to blame if I never come across in any media (Radio, TV, Newspapers & Magazines) any reports, press releases, calendar of activities.
For your information, I read The New Straits Times, The Sun Daily, The Star and Malay Mail everyday without fail. I also buy Nanban (Sundays Only) , Makkal Osai, Vanampadi & Nayanam everyweek. Sure there are some articles but people like me with limited vocabulary in Tamil have a hard time trying to understand any article. What about those who can't read Tamil at all.
Do not blame the English dailies. There are many other ways to get heard.

3.Authority & Regulation.

I am glad that finally some form of regulation related to ceremonies are finally being undertaken, but what about enforcement. Who will oversee the conduct of temples & priest ? Do you think they will follow the guideline on certain ceremonies if they are not monitored, I don't think so.

4.Churches

My articles never mentioned churches, why drag churches into this? We are not even able to control the temples, why compare with other religion?

5.Too Many Temples

I think what I have mentioned do make sense. Just go to any temples around the country on any days except Friday and the days, special celebrations are held, there are hardly anyone. Is there a need for two different temple sitting next to each other, some in the same estate, same town and I also have seen neighbours having temples of their own.

6.Hindu Temples Open To All Hindus.

You have contradicted yourself by saying ' It is neither unnatural not uncommon for places of worship of any religion to follow a particular sect or race' and yet later in your letter you said Hindu temples open to all Hindus.
It it easy to declare that all hindu temples are open to all hindus, fine I agree. But the fact is people of different sect or race are made unwelcome at certain temples. We usually get a stare from the priest and others , sometimes our archanai request are denied and there was once where my request to put a villaku at a particular temple was not allowed.
This practice also contributes to people divided along their own ethnic groups.
Again here you questioned 'why pick on Hindu Temples only'. Of course I am talk about Hindu Temples because I am a Hindu. Why compare with other religion.
I expected your response to be proactive, of what is Hindu Sangam doing to minimise or even eliminate the above problem, so that the Hindus in the country are united and not reactive and defensive by again comparing with other religion.

7. Funds

I believe God never asked it's devotees to build temples all over the place. We should only build when we are sure that it will be manageable and that there are enough people to patronise it.
For example, there is a temple in Kluang, next to the Indian Association Hall along Jalan Renggam left idle for almost three due to insufficient funds and problems between committee members. The temple was in the process of renovation and reburbishment.
Do you think that the god has asked for all these to happen. It is the human, the people that control the temples that create all unnecessary problems.
Some people build temples to boost their ego, popularity and even to compete with leaders of other temples.
These are not mere accusations, I have lived in estates ( 8 estates with 14 temples) where numerous problems crop up every year during the temple committee selection/voting. Once some group lose their position, they refuses to contribute towards the temple funds and start doing all kinds of things to sabotage the temple. So the god becomes secondary.
Again, here you went on comparing other religion.

8. Local Priest & Priests From India

I never questioned on shortage of local priests or the intake of priest from India. I only questioned the legitimacy of their way of conducting ceremonies.

9. Companies & Advertisements

You never touched on this.
Have you ever heard of various companies advertising religious products over Radio Six RTM. Quite a number of them claim that their products are clean and pure and are the most suitable for prayers etc.
Had Hindu Sangam done anything to clarify and check on these products. What about this Agni Hotram, is it legitimate, approved and allowed. I read in the Makkal Osai where an Indian priest claimed that this ritual is illegal. Have you checked. The Aboorvas had been selling the Agni Hotram package in thousands and laughing all the way to the bank.
Others

10. Kalvi Yathirai

What about Kalvi Yathirai, do you think it is necessary to group about one million students and conduct prayers to enable the students to do well in their exams. Many of my relatives and family members (students) who went for this occasion confessed that they went there just to have fun with their friends. Some of them said they do feel motivated after all the courses but the so-called motivation dies down after a week or two.
Do you think that the god will help the students to pass the exams. Nobody will do well in exams unless they study hard. God will not help those who don't help themselves.
My sympathies to parents who spent hundreds to sent their children to this event.
End of the day, the people at the Aboorvas, the main sponsors for the event, are the ones who benefitted most. They have managed to advertise themselves in a most convincing way (by using religion) to millions of Indians in such a brief period. What a good business strategy.
If there is really a need for special prayers for students who are taking exams, why don't we do it in a smaller scale, in towns, estates and villages. Then the smaller number of students will be more focused, the parents do not have to fork out a lot of money and people like Aboorvas will not be able to take advantage of the situation.
The Sri Murugan Centre, I believe is already doing a good job in giving tuitions to students. This is enough and they can do more by having more classes. This will be good enough.

11.Thaipusam

I do remember you replying to my articles relating to the condition of Batu Caves. This place has been described as a Third World Mayhem by one of the tourist who stayed at the hotel where I worked before. It was very very embarassing. He asked me whether is this the way the Hindus pray.
In brief, the noise, the filthy stalls, crammed atmosphere, unnecessary entertaintment, has brought about a negative image to Indians in the country.
There are hardly any space to walk during thaipusam due to the stalls lining up all over the place. They were also stalls selling local Indian rock bands albums pleaced just next to the temple on the second day at the ground level blarring their music to the maximum. How do you expect people at the temple at the ground level pray.
To do an archanai people are forced to buy the archanai package at an exorbitant fee. Is this the way to collect funds, by forcing people to buy from the temple.
The fact is Thaipusam has become a money making occasion for many including the Batu caves temple commitee who rents out maximum number of stalls that can fit the area and that includes a Funfair where people gamble to win prizes, how religious.
I don't have to say more about the allotment of the stalls which are manipulated by the temple committee member and later sold to other people at high daily rates. This is an open secret and has been going on for years. The temple committee ( still headed by a man previously convicted of misaapropriation of funds but recently aquitted on technicality) denied this in their reply.
The conduct of the some followers of the Kavadi bearer are despicable. It is so embarrasing. They behaves like street rowdies. Half of them are. I also have seen some gangsters taking kavadhi year after year and later remains their old self, no improvements whatsoever. What is the point of taking kavadis then.
Why can't Hindu Sangam do something about this?

12. Valluvar Kottai & Kallai Kudham
Have you been to these places, the conditions are a digrace to Hindus. Aren't Hindu Sangam bothered about this?

13. Custom, Tradition & Religion

I believe majority of Hindus can't differenciate what is a religious practice and what is a Indian custom/tradition. A very good example is the Ponggal festival. It is now touted to be a religious festival when the fact is it a thanksgiving tradition practiced by paddy farmers back in India.
There are many other ceremonies like ear piercing, shaving hair of children, babies 16th day and 30th day ceremony which are more of a custom than a religious practice. But majority Hindus believe that these are a must for all Hindus.
The fact that a Hindu priest ( a very popular priest) told me that one is not Hindu if their ears are not pierced is shocking. Is this true, if it is then, more than half of the Hindu men in the country including me are not Hindus.

14. Keep Up The Work

On the other hand, I appreciate the effort done to hold seminars for leaders of Hindu temples. This must go on and there must be effort to reach general public so that they are aware what is going on, what are the right practices, what should be done and what should not take place.
I rest my case and just to summarise, I believe things will be out of control if nothing is done now. For me, I believe one do not have to go to temple to pray, we can pray anywhere . I will continue to pray at home and only visit temple when it is bearable and necessary.
Your reply will be much appreciated.

K.Balan Kuala Lumpur

HINDU SANGAM's Second Reply

Dear Mr.Balan,

Thank you for the response to my letter published in the Star (14 Jun 2001)
I feel relived receiving your e-mail on 15 June. Relived because I appreciate your genuine concern for the state of affairs of the many things related to Hinduism in Malaysia and the temples in particular.
I would be most happy if you can call at my office @ No.8, Jalan Duku, Off Jalan kasipillay, 51200 Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible. Please ring the office or my hand phone 012-2970765 before you come.
My colleagues and I share many of your views, especially your concern. Please do come.
May the Almighty God Bless you.
Thank You,
A.Vaithilingam

OTHER READERS RESPONSE 1

It's time to monitor all templesVIKNASVARAN of Kuala Lumpur (via e-mail, The Star) writes:

I REFER to the letter "Keeping Tabs on Hinduism" (The Star, June 1). I fully support Balan's idea and I really appreciate that he brought up this issue, which should have been addressed long ago.
The Hindu Sangam is doing all they can for the Indians and I think they have done a good job all this while.
I think now is the time for the Hindu Sangam, MIC and relevant organisations to work together to monitor all the temples, priests and their practices for the benefit of Indians in Malaysia.

OTHER READERS RESPONSE 2

Hinduism too diverse to monitorFrom Saravanan Karumanan, Kota Kinabalu. (via e-mail, The Star Daily)

I WOULD like to respond to K. Balan's letter, "Keeping tabs on Hinduism (The Star, June 1).
Is there a need to have a monitoring body to keep tabs on Hinduism similar to what is being done in other religions?
The answer to this question will result in another question. Can the Hindu religion be monitored?
K. Balan seems to forget that Hinduism is a religion devoid of accepted doctrines and dogmas.
It is a religion that has evolved over thousands of years and in the process it has found a place for varied practices and belief systems which collectively is called Hinduism.
Throughout the ages, many attempts have been made to reduce it to a single belief system or norm, but all these efforts have failed or met a natural death.
The Hindu religion is simply too big and diverse to be broken down into easy manageable parts.
Hence, K. Balan's confusion about which is the correct path is a dilemma that every Hindu goes through in his quest to understand the religion.
The solution to this dilemma is a matter of the heart.
As for the many unregistered Hindu temples, I agree with K. Balan that they should be registered if found to be operating illegally.
I also agree with K. Balan that something should be done to temples that seem to have unspoken rules on who should patronise them.
K. Balan also asked whether there is a need for so many Hindu temples when the Indian population is small.
Let me remind K. Balan that for a Hindu, a special bond exists between him and a temple.
For many, they actually feel a sense of restlessness if they are unable to go to their favourite temple.
Each temple is like a tiny spot for every Hindu to find his place in the universe.
Every Hindu feels that a temple is specially built for him to communicate with God.
Hindus donate to temples because like I said before, there exists a special bond between the two.
Hindus and Hindu temples have never been a problem for the Malaysian society.
In fact the many temples around the country have played an important role in keeping Indian youths away from the streets.
Temple worship in Hinduism is a very important and sacred duty.
Each time a Hindu walks into a temple, however humble, he is walking into the kingdom of God.
If one looks beyond the rituals and doctrines, one will feel the actual meaning of Love of Godhead.

OTHER READERS RESPONSE 3

Dear Mr. Balan,

And does that mean that one day to come, Hindus will not be allowed to use Gods name even to name their children. I will agree to this. Ya, first the name Samy (God) Vellu should not be in any media. Why not, because he is not behaving like a God. He is a disgrace(he drinks, he has keeps/pets, he is rich and he has mercedes-Gods dont have that), hence we should not allow anyone to use Gods name. Is this how we want things to happen in future.
The pathetic thing about Indian reformist in Malaysia is that they seldom look ahead - just like that old bunch of MIC fellows. In a country where the minority is not safe guarded by the constitution and being treated biasly by the existing leadership, it is only right for us to fight to preserve whatever little freedom and liberty we have and not to keep losing it. This is what I am totaly for.
Hindusim caters for all walks of man. The idiot to the intellect. So when we have became knowledgeable, it does not mean that we have to for get about the naive ones. Be it right or wrong it is up to the indiividual to determine. Bogus or not it is the individual right of every Hindus. You yourself Mr.Balan, dont know wether it is right or wrong but you say it is bogus. How am I to give you a break when you are trying to impose (not propose by leadership quality) on the Hindus. This is crucial. Our mind set has to change as we got to look from a wider scope. Dont only think about our self. Put your self in another persons shoe - those who are of lower ability to absorb the abstract elements of spirituality.
HIndu bussiness are directly connected with God and Godliness. Look at the Chettiars. Take them as an example in bussiness and the Malaysian Hnidu community can be a better lot. Their bussiness are named either to their own name or the name of God, usualy Lord Muruga. You go to their shop and there is Gods icon/picture etc. You open their safe box and you will again see some elements related to spirituality. Now this small community of Chetty has been doing very well in Malaysia since the time of Malacca Sultanate.
Dont turn Hniduism into a Semetic, dogmatic religion in Malaysia.

saba

RECAP : If readers notice, all the issues relating to Hinduism and Hindu Temples was brought up in 2001 itself. Not sure where HINDRAF, DAP, PKR members who made all the noise recently, were at that time.

Again, it readers care to notice, almost all initial responses (including mine) were emotional in nature. I now do not really agree with some of the comments I made as I have lost touch with the practises as it has continued to evolve.

8 years has passed and nothing much has changed, the same people are there in Batu Caves, more and more temples are being built (recent report says that there are 7,000 temples in Selangor).

The saddest part is when authorities take action according to the law, politicians stand in the way, previously the BN and now Pakatan Rakyat has done exactly the same by taking action against someone who did what is required by the law.

This (political interference) would certainly encourage people to build more illegal temples and perhaps surpass India in terms of number of Hindu Temples available, no matter if they are illegal.

I have no hope that things will change, ever especially when people become emotional at every turn and can't think rationally, something that I do not think will change in my lifetime.

Hindraf - Reader's Comments

I am saddened to hear of the negative comments to you two postings on Hindraf. A bitter lesson for us on the subject of open-mindedness of Malaysians. You already talked about, again twice, on maturedness of the Malaysian voters – let alone the emotional Hindraf supporters.

I am not a social psychologist or an anthropologists, but if there is a weakness amongst Indians everywhere in the world, it's that we are just too damned emotional. Emotion precedes rational thought.

Hindraf is a brainchild of Uthayamoorthy and his brother Waythamoorthy, who started the whole thing out of his own frustration against the Malaysian cops. They were famous for defending widow/mothers of dead prisoners, said to be killed by cops. Are they a rational-minded brave leadesr out to defend these poor families? I am not sure. I believeWaythamoorthy ran to UK when he was said to be threatened by cops.

A brave leader? I think not. I received forwarded mails describing him as William Wallace. Sir William Wallace was a Scottish freedom warrior who came from working class and, as you may have seen in the movie Braveheart, died for his people. Unlike the more glamorous death in the movie, he was drawn and quartered, pretty ugly death that the Hindraf supporters are probably not aware off.

And Waythamoorthy is compared to William Wallace. What did the other Hindraf leader do, when things were hot in Malaysia? He stayed on in cool UK, instead of coming here to face the realities. What is he, then? Salman Rushdie?

The mother of all ironies is the fact that the persons leading the organisation are not from the working class or materially poor. These are successful lawyers. And you may argue that it was a lawyer who led India to her independence. Of course, fellow Indian shot him later, but that's another story.

What Hindraf would have needed is a leader from the working class. Hindraf could have been a successful "union" for poor Indians. But no, we needed a hero to come along….
Let's face it; we are a race of hero-worshippers. We need hero, not from our own, but from a different category. Given a choice of a hardworking rubber taper with guts, or a successful Lawyer with easy entry to UK, whom would you choose? Okay, you and I will chose the rubber tapper, encourage him, give moral support and encourage him to be rational first.

But most people are drawn to the "higher" class of leaders. They supposedly have money and brain to match, and can buy them free beers. Alas, what can the poor rubber tapper give them?

I am merely repeating what you have wrote. All the good points in your point-to-point argument fell on the deaf ears. Again, a very ordinary reaction. We want to hear what we want to hear, other than that pay no attention. They probably caught your argument agreeing on few things, like education for example. Other than that, I can see them simply getting pissed, "how dare he disagree!" rather than taking that underused brain of theirs to task of understanding what you wrote, check the facts if they feel yours is wrong, or even counter-argue with their own facts.

Rational thinking is not an option. It is not even discussed in many Indian families. We are always told to not ask question and just follow. Our religious practises are thousands of years old, and are out of date, but lately they have been making a comeback in form of commerce, and you yourself have wrote many letters saying that these merchants are making use of Indians and their beliefs. Nobody listened.

We all know about Batu Caves and the money it made and where it went. Nobody went there to the Batu Caves management demanding to know what had happened. Nobody went to Samy Velu's house for peaceful demonstration for failing the Indians. No. They have to go to foreign embassy, which is there to protect the interest of its own countries and people.

And now, look at Hindraf. At odds with the opposition party for the same old, age old, temple issue! The whole world is in the brink of economic meltdown, with 100 plus years old corporations going bust, with economic uncertainties facing not you, not me, but the entire 6 billion plus populations.

And they are bitching about the temple, shrine, place of worship, or whatever you call it, which is probably frequented by less than 50 persons.

We cannot have an organisation. We have, how many, three or four parties representing us? Well, the big ones are MIC, IPF and PPP that has majority Indians. Then, someone split from MIC and formed MIC Baru and similar thing happened to IPF when Pandithan passed away. Oh, and Nallakaruppan started one on his own. And then, we have Hindraf, though not political…was very political and racist at the same time, and it too got split!

You want to know Indians, look at India. Look at the number of political parties, religious sects, NGOs, and not to forget the terribly buy unions. It just does not work. Best way is to work hard, do well and help each other…. as you have mentioned.

I read somewhere that late Tun VT Sambanthan said Indians and Chinese, outside of their homeland, are treated badly, almost second-class citizens, but it was Malays in Malaysians who took us in as brothers and sisters.

All baskets will have one or two rotten apples, but should we throw away those baskets?

My writing is here is certainly full of faults, mistakes and weak argument, but if other readers are reading this, please reread what Balan had wrote carefully and pay due attention. If needed, do independent check on facts and figures that he had argued. There are many sites, blogs (see the links) that can give you more perception on what is happening.

Here is something I agree with all of you Hindraf supporters: Samy Velu should go, should shut down MIC, and declare himself as a failure as Indian Malaysians leader. Work on that. Send

SMSes asking him to shut down MIC and apologise. After that, push for authorities to investigate whatever wrong doings he had committed in his time as minister in the cabinet. If you feel that it is too drastic, than do your usual peaceful assembly in front of his house asking him to hand over the administrations to one of your leaders, revive MIC, take control of it, and do what is needful in a more appreciated manner.

Oh, and get all the Indian organisations under one umbrella.

Do that if you still need a single powerful organisation to represent us all. Frankly, I think we can do without any organisation and just help each other as fellow human beings. In this world filled with wonderful flora and fauna, racial cards need not apply!

--
Rakesh Kumar http://grouchydays.blogspot.com/

Balan : It was reported that there are 7,000 temples or shrines in Selangor and fewer that 50 Tamil Schools. What an achievement!! Imagine how much money could have been diverted to schools, students welfare or scholarship rather than building more and more temples, as a matter of pride and chest-thumping exercise for few individuals with bloated egos'.

Somebody said that 'common sense' is no longer common. I have to completely agree with that, at least in Malaysia.

Ampang Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Demolition- Dr Xavier, stop the same BN tune !

HINDRAF135-3-A
Jalan Toman 7
Kemayan Square
70200Seremban.

PRESS STATEMENT – 27 Sept 2008

RE: DEMOLITION OF SRI MAHA KALIAMMAN TEMPLE AMPANG

DR XAVIER JAYAKUMAR OF PAKATAN EXCO LOST THE PLOT ON TEMPLE “NOT REGISTERED ACCORDING TO THEIR FORMAT”.PAKATAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT FOLLOW THEIR PREDECESSORSATTITUDE OF MISLEADING THE PEOPLE ON “REGISTER” ISSUE.IS PAKATAN GOVERNMENT WILLING TO LODGE POLICE REPORTS ON AMPANG JAYA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL??

HINDRAF is shocked with the statement made by Dr.Xavier Jayakumar which appears to echo that of the usual excuses given by BN and UMNO leaders that Temples are demolished because they are not “registered”.

We maintain our stand that there are no provisions currently under the Law to register the existence of a Temple and that this and all temples exist legally under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. The issue of legality of a Temple does not exist at all and it is a duty of the Government to provide land and funds for places of worships belonging to any and all religious groups.

The statement by Dr. Jayakumar that the Sri Maha Kaliamman Temple is not registered with the Selangor State Council and that it did not fulfil the “format” of registration is a joke and makes a mockery of the basic right to worship of every citizen. It appears the Pakatan Government is singing the same tune of the previous Barisan Government in misleading the community to believe that the temple committee was at fault for not registering the temple.We challenge Dr Jayakumar and his Pakatan Government to produce the necessary provisions of the state Law that stipulated the necessity of the so-called “format”. To add insult to injury he had the audacity to say this is not a Temple but a shrine.

Is he trying to indicate that it was okay to demolish a shrine? How less is a shrine than a temple?? The problem with these politicians is they do not give a dam about the feelings ofHindus and the need to provide and gazette places of worships belonging to Hindus.HINDRAF have specifically written to the 5 Pakatan led Governments to gazette all temples (which is directly under their purview) but till date they have not taken any positive steps to do the same and keep misleading the people in the same way BN did.

HINDRAF is taken aback with the statement that the MPAJ had ordered the demolition of the Temple without knowledge or directive of the state Government. If the statement of Dr.Xavier is true he should take the most responsible step by lodging police report and insist the police initiate criminal proceedings against MPAJ for theirCriminal act under the penal Code for defiling a place of worship.

The statement by Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin justifying the demolition of the temple on grounds of misunderstanding between MPAJ and temple management on renovation works and documentation is another mockery. Is it consistent with good Governance to demolish a place of worship should there be a “misunderstanding”. Would anyone in MPAJ dare demolish a mosque?

HINDRAF hereby calls on the Selangor Government to stop playing politics and mislead the people and immediately gazette all places of worships and provide land and funding for the purposes of erection of places of worships belonging to Hindus and non-Muslims.

P.Waytha Moorthy
Chairman HINDRAF

Here you go, can all the HINDRAF supporters who voted for the opposition wake up or do they need some divine intervention to open their eyes?.

"Valge 'Makkal Shakti', Hidup 'Makkal Sakhti', Long Live 'Makkal Sakhti'

This is the what I heard and also received through sms when Pakatan Rakyat won in 5 states in the March 8 General Elections. Now Dr Xavier is singing the same tune as BN, it seems. It was also reported that there's at least another 10 temples or shrines nearby.

Now, it's a case of some fools being fooled by another group of fools. Now the fools, who were fooled, would be wondering who else can they turn to.

They should all run to their leader in UK and enjoy the begining of winter and shout 'Makkal Sakhti' at the Trafalgar Square until someone listens.

PS. Wonder why the Hindraf chairman has yet to be able to secure something in UK despite being there for almost a year now. Who is funding his stay and what does he do for living? Mr Waytaa, I am still waiting for my Million Ringgit you promised.

Unity And The Required Change

So, there’s no change in the federal government. So what, let move on says a friend of mine.

For 6 months the nation was gripped with political uncertainty that, for many, we just forgot how to live our lives.
Most of the casual talk, jokes and meetings turn to political talk, Anwar, BN, UMNO, Racial Conflict, Pakatan Rakyat, Sept 16, sodomy etc..

I did a flashback of my own and realised that I did exactly the same, most of my casual conversations with family members, relatives and friends had somehow leaned towards the political situation in the country.

To ensure that I am not the only one, I did check with few friends of mine and they agreed that they felt the same.

After decades of political stability, we are at the crossroads and for many; this is something that we never felt before. Perhaps, some felt the same in 1998, but majority did go about doing their business.

I feel the fault lies with human nature of having certain expectations all the time, it just that what is expected has changed over the time.

In the 50s, 60s and 70s, the expectations has been to provide food on the table, adequate education as Malaysians at the time did not want their children to end up like them.

During Mahathir's era, education took priority in the 80s and people's expectation changed from just putting food on the table to having a house and car, not as a progression towards attaining wealth and property but just that it had become a necessity.

In the 90s, Malaysia has become a nation with high literacy rate, high growth rate, low unemployment, low cost of livings, reasonable standard of living and plenty of opportunities. We have also slowly moved from having just one graduate from the whole family to having the ability to provide tertiary education for all.

At this time, attaining higher education, owning a car, house has become a norm and expectations have changed. The complete outlook of Malaysians also changed with the advent of satellite TV and internet, with the latter playing a big role in influencing Malaysians.

Very few bothered about politics and political situation in the country then. Just ask anyone about 'Operasi lalang' and they are likely to give you a blank stare. Everything appeared well and fine.

With more and more Malaysians exposed globally through overseas education, travel and interactions with people though work, Malaysians appeared to have opened their eyes. They have began to learn about how things are in other countries especially on socio-economic front.

Previously we are always compared to our neighbors but now since Malaysia is one of the most developed among the developing countries and also one of the top trading nations in the world, Malaysians expect the politics, socio-economic conditions to be on par with other developed democracies without thinking about the underlying demographics and social structure already in place for decades.

Now everyone wants to have a say on just about everything else that happens in the country. They speak about Human Rights, freedom of expression, transparency, equal rights etc and with the availability of internet and many other alternate channels, voices are being heard across the country.

Malaysians are now bold enough to offer differing views, often without thinking. Traditionalist on the other hand, had yet to come to grips with the changes that are taking place, still holding on their warlord mentality.

While the general view is that Malaysians are now much more politically mature, the facts remain that we are not ready be united and be known as Malaysians first and in my opinion, will never be, ever. The day where Malaysians are proud to say I'm a Malaysian in their own country, rather than their race, is far away.

Malaysian are simply expecting too much from the politicians. They seems not to realise that several huge structural changes needs to be done before they can expect a full fledged democracy and unity at work.

Ensuring equal rights and unity of all races will never happen even if Pakatan Rakyat takes over. They may make several major changes to repeal certain laws and bring about certain level of transparency and accountability on the workings of the government. But they would never be able to ensure equality for everyone and more importantly, unity of all races in the country.

For that to happen, a major change is required and it should start with the schools. There should be only one national school for everyone. All Chinese and Tamil school should be closed with language and cultural aspects still continued to be taught in the national school.

I had the privilege of studying in all Malay national school (in the midst of Feldas) as well as a racially balanced national school in a small town. The differences were huge and life changing.

How many of us are willing to allow that (Closure of Chinese and Tamil Schools) to happen? Almost immediately we will see demonstrations held by Chinese educationist movements and perhaps HINDRAF (if they are still active) at the other end with candle light vigils, prayers and angry racist statements to follow with.

There is no point of talking about unity if Malaysian children are forced to grow up most of their formative years living and playing with friends from their own race. Mahathir did attempt to introduce 'Vision Schools’ which was met with protest from parents and educationist.

For months we have been bombarded with various analyses on how Malaysians have embraced multi-racial approach by voting for Pakatan Rakyat regardless of racial background of candidates in the recent general elections. These are false hopes as the votes for Pakatan Rakyat were merely protest votes against Barisan nasional and have nothing to do with racial preferences.

I ask all Pakatan Rakyat supporters, who has high hopes on them, to stop and think. Stop day dreaming and let's not have high expectations that that unity can be achieved though a change of government.

Racial unity cannot be taught in schools or by the way of enacting Race Relations Act or even having a multiracial political party. Malaysians like to blame politicians for all the problems in the country. It is the public who are, most of the time, pressure politicians to behave the way they do.

While non-Malays harp on the need to do away with special privileges, they should look at themselves in the mirror and ask this question, 'Are you willing to sacrifice (doing away with Chinese & Tamil schools) for the sake of unity?’ Until we get overwhelming 'yes' for an answer, not much will change and racial unity would remain elusive.

Anwar's Bluff

Sept 16 has come and the official day time is about to end, where sunset leads to breaking of fast for muslims. What we have is another press conference from Anwar Ibrahim, claiming for the umpteenth time that he has adequate number of BN member of parliaments ready to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat. Anwar would have had probably the most number of press conferences by a single person in the world, perhaps even more than Obama and McCain put together this year.

Anwar has been claiming for almost 5 months now that he had enough numbers, previously saying that he had about 30 but need few more to ensure that his government is strong. This he has been saying for almost 3 months, until he was dragged to court for sodomy charges. There was a lull period on the takeover plans when everyone got distracted with the sodomy charges and the Permatang Pauh by-elections.

He started blabbering again on the takeover plan as soon as he became the MP and Oppositions Leader. His counterparts in PAS and DAP appears to be not convinced. He, in a sign of desperation, send of team of 'negotiators' to Taiwan to meet BN MPs. Why is there a need for this when for 5 months he claimed that he had the numbers in his hands.

The team include Tian Chua, the MP for my area. Mr Tian Chua, please do something more productive. Please go to your constituency, there's a lot to be done. That's why we voted for you, not to go to Permatang Pauh, Courts and Taiwan unnecessarily.

Even at yesterday's rally at kelana Jaya (15th Sept), only Anwar spoke about the numbers, the DAP leaders spoke more on the ISA arrests and the need for change. PAS leaders were conspicuously absent.

Now Anwar is suddenly worried about 'political stability' of the country and demanded to meet PM Badawi to talk about smooth transition/takeover of government. He mentioned that a letter demanding for the said meeting has been sent to PM's office on 15th September afternoon. In the same evening Badawi, when interviewed said that Anwar can dream on.

Don't Anwar realised that he's the main reason for all the uncertainty in the country that may have drove away many investors, lost of confidence in the stock market and not to mention waste of time. Being in the finance sector, I can vouch for the nervousness felt by the financial institutions due to the political uncertainty.

Anwar, if he really had the numbers, he just needs to introduce them in the press conference, then declare that he ready to take over. He can give Badawi a certain time frame for discuss transition and handover the powers, failing which he can seek audience with the King and handover a letter of support from all the Pakatan Rakyat MPs (including those who crossed over), inform the King officially that he has the majority in the parliament.

It's a simple thing to do, this has been done many times in other countries. Wonder what took Anwar more than 5 months. He has repeated 16th September deadline for almost 10 times and the said day has passed. As usual he sounded arrogant in the press conference and did not show any remorse, he should at least apologised for bluffing his way till today. Not many people can bluff his way through confidently and consistently.

As mentioned in one of the articles in Agendadaily.com, Anwar should at least get the local version of the Oscar's Best Actor by default with Tian Chua as Best Supporting Actor. And his journey for the last 5 months should be voted the 'Best Miniseries' or 'Megaserial'.

Hindraf - I Rest My Case!

I have received numerous feedbacks on the previous 2 articles. While some understood my rational in most of the comments made, many were understandably angry, not surprisingly they were my Indian Malaysian friends. Some even mentioned that I am a traitor for belittling their support and struggle for a fair and just society.

In the end, we have 5 People in jail, families struggling without the breadwinners and another group of people going around the country during various Pooja's and Yaagams to pray for the HINDRAF 5's release. The only people who benefited are the priest's who charges astronomical fees to conducts such prayers nowadays.

Although the government took notice of HINDRAF, they would have listened and done something if HINDRAF conducted their activities properly and sought peaceful means to achieve their objectives.

HINDRAF claims to be apolitical and said recently that they would support any political party that can assist them to achieve their objectives. Not much spoken about the fact that many of their member are also members of DAP and PKR . Anwar Ibrahim and all other Opposition Parties used HINDRAF's catch phrase "Makkal Sakhti' to the hilt during the recent general elections and even during the Permatang Pauh by-elections.

With opposition in power in 5 states, it should be payback time, I wonder why HINDRAF has yet to get in touch and seek assistance from the state governments of Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Kelantan and Penang. They claimed that the Barisan Nasional government and MIC were not sympathetic with their struggles and failed the Indian Malaysians.

If one carefully look at the demographics, if I’m not mistaken more than 50% of Indian Malaysians reside in Selangor, Perak and Penang while the rest are concentrated in Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Johor. If the HINDRAF seriously believes that Barisan Nasional cannot help their cause, why did they not bulldoze their way into offices of Chief Ministers of the opposition held states. Instead, HINDRAF are seen everywhere holding flag raising dinners and prayers.

Since most of their complaints and claims of victimisations are linked to availability and ownership of land for Tamil Schools and Hindu Temples, they should have by now won 50% of the battle since land matters are under the purview of state governments. They could have easily seized the moment as the opposition is in the mood of giving away almost everything for free to win popular support.

It was reported that the Perak state government have allocated hundreds of acres of land and annual allocation of funds for Chinese Schools (The Star 30th Aug,'1,000ha Land For Perak Independent Schools) since the Chinese School operators took the right step at the right time to reach out to the state government.

By now, HINDRAF should be crying 'Makkal Sakhti' in front of Perak State Governement's office and seek similar allocation of land and funds for Tamil School. Where are they?

If I'm not mistaken HINDRAF was holding a prayer (Yaagam - Fire Ritual) in Mantin on the same day (30th Aug) to mark "one year of the Hindraf class suit against UK government amounting USD 4 trillion for the neglect of its government during the Malaysia independence for the Indians whom were brought by British to Malaysia".

If HINDRAF seriously believe that criss-crossing the country in the hope for divine intervention will help, then HINDRAF should not have sent any memorandum, demonstrate, get 5 people arrested under ISA, several people injured and many wasting their annual leaves and unpaid leaves, not to mention creating nuisance for the general public. They should have just gathered at one place, a temple inside a cave perhaps and pray for divine intervention, and wait for the intervention to happen. Why waste other's time.

This is where HINDRAF fails. There are no strategies, no planning, no quick thinking (not to mention rational thinking) to achieve their objectives. The opportunities are there in the 5 states. They (political parties) made use of HINDRAF and now it should be HINDRAF's turn to make use of the state governments. In fact most of HINDRAF’s supporters are from the Opposition, mainly PKR and DAP. Majority of Indian Malaysians also voted for the opposition, even PAS, in the recent general elections.

This is where the Chinese associations are smart, they are well organised, not extreme, engages the government of the day to get what they wanted, quietly without making a big fuss. HINDRAF are good at making noise but end up an empty vessel.

Instead, we still see more and more plans for all kinds of rituals and prayers in the future. (see HINDRAF's link at the right panel for their schedule)

Of recent, it was also reported that HINDRAF has now split into several factions and their de-facto leader has gone on to accuse that one of the leader is actually a police special branch agent planted within HINDRAF to check on the movement's activities. By now the readers would realise that the government need not plant any spies within HINDRAF as there's nothing to spy on unless to check if the prayer rituals are equivalent to some cult or deviant practises. Even then, in Malaysia, Hindu's are quite free to start their own version of HINDU religion or even pray to a living person.

I was watching one of Tamil program on 10th September where a US trained Indian Malaysian Chef (from Paloh, Johor), who is now a food and beverage industry consultant was interviewed. This chap had served in many countries is now back in Malaysia as a consultant. He was asked on the prospects on Indians in the food and beverage industry
(Other than normal Indian Restaurants). He mentioned that no other countries provide opportunities for someone to start up a business with grants, funds and loan such as Tekun, Amanah Ikhtiar Fund, Bank Pembagunan etc available for start ups and reinvestment of businesses. Tony Fernandez of Air Asia also frequently mentioned that opportunities are plenty, we just need to find the right avenues (not connections) to grab it.

HINDRAF is nothing but a lost cause with some casualties of course. Indian Malaysians were and are being fooled by a group of lawyers who had no sense of direction whatsoever when they started the movement and even now, where they appear to be blind to opportunities in front of them.

Now, I sincerely, can only hope for a divine intervention to enlighten the Indian Malaysians and make them realise that they made to look and act foolish all this while by HINDRAF while others continue to progress by grabbing opportunities made available to everyone. Indian Malaysians image in the eyes of fellow citizens are at the lowest ebb, no thanks to HINDRAF and it will take years before it is reversed.

HINDRAF (Part 2) : Memorandum To British Prime Minister

This is the memorandum claimed to have been delivered to British Prime Minister last year.
My comments are in bold.

HINDRAFHindu Rights Action Force

No. 135-3-A, Jalan Toman 7,

Kemayan Square,70200 Seremban,

Negeri SembilanMalaysia.

Tel : 06-7672995/6

Fax: 06-7672997 Email waytha@hotmail. com
15.11.2007



The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown

Prime Minister of the United Kindom

10 Downing Street,

Fax: +442079250918London,

URGENT

SW1A 2AA


Dear Sirs,


RE: 1. COMMONWEALTH ETHNIC INDIAN PEACE LOVING SUBJECTS IN MALAYSIA PERSECUTED BY GOVERNMENT BACKED ISLAMIC EXTREMIST VIOLENT ARMED TERRORIST WHO LAUNCHED A PRE DAWN VIOLENT ARMED ATTACK AND DESTROYED THE KG JAWA MARIAMAN HINDU TEMPLE AT 4.00 A.M THIS MORNING (15.11.2007) .
ISLAMIC EXTREMIST VIOLENT ARMED TERRORIST?



It was the local council who demolished the temple despite 3 eviction notices dating to 2 years earlier. The statue of the deities were relocated and only the temple structure was demolished.


2. APPEAL FOR U.K TO MOVE EMERGENCY U.N RESOLUTION CONDEMNING “ETHNIC CLEANSING” IN MALAYSIA.


No proof whatsoever of any incidence of “ETHNIC CLEANSING”.


3. APPEAL TO REFER MALAYSIA TO THE WORLD COURT AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR CRIMES AGAINST IT’S OWN ETHNIC MINORITY INDIANS.
We refer to the above critical matters in Malaysia but which generally gets the least attention locally even by the Opposition parties, NGO’s, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the media for this community is generally regarded as politically insignificant, do not draw local or international funding and are deemed not pressworthy. To the contrary the Malaysian government has successfully projected itself to the world as a modern Islamic thinking country which is not true.

The ethnic minority Indians in Malaysia were brought in to Malaysia by the British some 200 over years ago. Since independence in 1957 the Malaysian Indians have been permanently colonialised by the Islamic fundamentalist and Malay chauvinists UMNO led Malaysian government.

Among the recent atrocities committed by this government are as follows:-

1.100 over Indians were slashed and killed by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government in the Kampung Medan mini genocide. Despite numerous appeals, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission has refused to hold a Public Inquiry. The UMNO controlled Malaysian courts struck off a victim’s public interest civil suit for a Public Inquiry to be held without even the said UMNO controlled government having to file in their defence. The UMNO controlled Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police refused to investigate and / or initiate an inquest into the death of at least six Indians in this tragedy despite.


First they say 100 people were slashed and killed, then in the last sentence, it's at least 6 people. Which one is correct? It has been reported independently that 6 people were killed by people within the same vicinity, not by UMNO controlled Malaysian government or any islamic terrorist.

2. Every week one person at average is killed in a shot to kill policy and in every 2 weeks one person is killed in police custody. About 60% of these victims are Indians though they form only 8% of the Malaysian population.


Again as in other figures quoted by HINDRAF, these are plucked from the sky. I think the ratio of Indians killing another Indian is higher. Wonder if there's such Shot to Kill policy in place. Note the grammatical error 'shot'.


3. In every three weeks one Hindu temple is demolished in Malaysia.
The latest being the demolishment of the Mariaman temple in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam, Selangor early this morning (15.11.2007) and the next being the (Mutaiya) Hindu temple in Sungai Petani scheduled for the 29.11.2007.

A violent armed pre down attack at 4.00a.m this morning was launched by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government backed by about 600 police, riot police, Islamic extremist and armed terrorists which completely destroyed this temple.

In an attack two weeks ago, uniformed police, riot police and city Council officers hurled rocks and attacked unarmed Hindu devotees with knives, sticks and iron rods.

At least 20 Hindu devotees were seriously injured and 19 arrested including 4 of their United Kingdom trained lawyers in direct violation of Article 5 (Right to life) Article 8 (Equality) Article 11 (Freedom of Religion) Section 295 (defiling a place of worship), Section 296 (disturbing a religious assembly), 298A(causing racial disharmony) and Section 441(criminal trespass) of the Malaysian Penal Code.

These authorities are plagued by an above the law mindset and in fact liberally take the law into their own hands. These atrocities however does not happen to almost all Islamic places of worship. Please visit http://www.policewatchmala/ ysia.com for further and better particulars.

3 Eviction notices were given before the Padang jawa temple were demolished. The developer also provided 10,000sqft of land for free nearby and cash for the relocation. These were never mentioned as HINDRAF adviser appears to have selective memory whenever they write a memorandum.

Another Surau within the same vicinity was relocated without a fuss. Police acted against a violent crowd who gathered at the temple. It was the crowd who hurled rocks at the police and the Police did not have 'knives, sticks or iron rods' as claimed. This is complete fabriciation of events. Did not know that 'Islamic extremist' and 'armed terrorists' exist were there as well.

4. State sponsored direct discrimination against the Indians in Public University intakes, Indian (Tamil) Schools, skills training institutes, civil service and private sector job opportunities, business and license opportunities and in almost all other aspects of daily life.

This is again a complete nonsence, while opportunities for university intake maybe limited, there are ample of opportunities in all other sector. They even has the cheek to say the same happens in the private sector!. Britain based HSBC employs more Indians than Malays or Chinese. Gordon Brown would have certainly checked on those facts.

Despite our hundreds of letters, appeals and pleas to the Malaysian King and Sultans, the Prime Minister, Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, Ministers, Chief Ministers and the latest being our letters to the Prime Minister dated 29.10.2007 and 30.10.2007 and to the Attorney General dated 1.11.2007 the Malaysian authorities are only proceeding with greater ferocity and with impunity with very little regard for the Federal Constitution and laws of Malaysia. So please help us.

CONCLUSION


We fear that this peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced to into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils.


If you notice, now they speak on behalf of Tamils not Hindus per se. This is where HINDRAF has instituted scare tactics to seek attention. They were reported to have made contact witht eh Tamil Tiger, a reason given by the government to jail 5 HINDRAF leader under the Internal Security Act (ISA).


APPEAL


On our part we are committed to a peaceful and lawful struggle and pray and appeal that the Government of the United Kingdom:-


1. Moves an emergency United Nations resolution condemning these state sponsored atrocities and persecutions of Malaysian Indians in Malaysia.


2. Refers Malaysia to the World Court and the International Criminal Court for Crimes against it’s own ethnic minority Indians


Thank You,


Yours Faithfully


P.Uthayakumar

Legal Adviser


In Summary, the memorandum was filled with half truths and blatant lies. To HINDRAF's dismay, they would have found out by now that Gordon Brown is not as 'intelligent' as HINDRAF's founding lawyers who wrote the memorandum.

Gordon Brown would have his own British High Commission in Malaysia verify the facts before acting or doing anything that may affect bilateral ties. It's no wonder that British Government did not respond.

The fact is the government never took unilateral action. All these places of worship were given eviction notices with adequate time given to the temple authorities to relocate. In many cases compensation were paid to them to relocate by either state government or land owner. Not surprised that these facts are not mentioned at all.

Personally, I just can't believe a group of lawyers can write such a poor quality memorandum full of untruths and flaws with unsubstantiated facts and figures. This is an embarrassment to the Ethnic Indians in Malaysia.

I can't but feel for all the clients of these lawyers, they should have realised by now the quality of lawyers that they have hired to argue their case. Not sure how many have failed in the courts due to the 'quality' of arguements by these lawyers.

HINDRAF should have at least hired a good spin doctor(s) to write the memorandum as their own lawyer's spin only invites ridicule from the readers.

HINDRAF

Some readers asked whether I'm a HINDRAF follower, more so a sympathiser. Let's look at HINDRAF starting with their 18 Point Demands with my comments in bold.


18 Point demands of Hindraf

1. Realizing the five leaders from the ISA because they were arrested for Malaysian Malay political purpose.

Not sure if they are arrested for Malaysian MALAY political purpose. But I would jail them for public nuisance, especially after being caught in the traffic jam for hours. They could have done it at some open area, stadium or padang and not the streets. Imagine the losses by bussineses, lost of manhours, petrol, people rushing to clinics/hospital on life or death situation, and many other difficulties faced by the public.

2. Realizing or acquittal the Hindraf people charged by AG /PM Charges against for political purpose

What is PM’s role here. Again, I would jail them for public nuisance.

3. 18 POINT DEMANDS OF THE MALAYSIAN INDIANS TO

They can even get their ethnicity right, it should be Indian Malaysians.

1. Whereas:The Reid Commission was appointed by her Majesty the Queen of England and the Conference of Rulers in 1956 with the view to Malaya (and now Malaysia) achieving independence by August 1957.Among the primary terms of reference of the Reid Commission were a Common Nationality for the whole of the Federation.

2. And whereasThe overwhelming of the 131 written memoranda submitted to the Reid Commission as evidenced by the declassified documents from the Public Records Office, Kew, London, United Kingdom which represented the will and wishes of the then Malayan population were primarily equality and equal opportunities etc for all Malayans irrespective ofrace or religion as follows: -

2.1 In the grant of state land,

No evidence whatsoever provided that Indian Malaysians are denied any state lands. I know many have obtained own land despite maybe through the right connections.
Some have been granted state land for farming. I’m sure many who own properties on their own land apart from being leased by the state authorities. It’s the matter of applying, then appealing through the right channels.

2.2 Admission to public and administrative service,

Agree that there maybe discriminations here and there, so does non-malay companies and institutions. They (Chinese and Indian based companies), though not all, practise the same. Have you ever seen a malay employed in an Indian Malaysian company. The ones you see are indonesians. Only MNCs are usually not biased and does not discriminate.

2.3 To trade and do business, licences, permits etc

Many Indian Malaysian businessmen are as succesfull as their counterparts, many are provided with government assistance . Maybe those who are not handed contracts without even trying all the avenues are complaining.

2.4 Primary, secondary, skills Training, university and overseas university education.

All these are available. If not Tamil schools, there are always National schools everywhere. The same applies to tertiary education, although places in public institutions are limited, there are always private institutions and plenty of funding and loans eg PTPTN made available to all races.

2.5 No special privileges for the Malays,2.6 No discrimination of any ethnic community based on race or religion,2.7 The retention of all their places of worship in particular Hindu temples, crematoriums and burial sites,

This is always a contentious issue. Indian Malaysians built temples everywhere without asking permission or applying for permits. Are they correct to take away government or other landowners rights in the first place. There were numerous ocassions where both MIC and Hindu Sangam requested temples to register the temples with them. Many failed to do so and when they are asked to vacate or relocate, they cry ‘Makkal Shakti’ and put in every effort to stop it. Why can’t HINDRAF put the same amount of effort to legalise all the temples rather than cry wolf when someone wants their land back.

2.8 Freedom of Religion

I did not realise that there no freedom of religion in Malaysia especially amongst Indian Malaysians. This is the freest country for Hindus apart from India, they can even built temples in their homes, slaughter goats for 4D numbers, pray to various living people (Cult), invite all and sundry priest and Mahagurus from India and elsewhere. They are also free shout on top of their lungs publicly during festivals, free to create traffic jam during thaipusam and individual annual temple festivals nationwide. They are even free to drink and have fun during these festivals.

2.9 Malaya is to be a Secular State and not an Islamic state

Why care if the above freedom of religion is provided in abundance

2.10 Right to mother tongue education in particular Tamil schools to be fully aided,

Quite agree with this request. But then again, who asked Indian Malaysians to built Tamil Schools on private land without thinking about future problems. Why blame the government when all these are started by Indian Malaysians themselves? Do other races, especially chinese have this problem?

2.11 Minimum wage for the lowest paid, and

Agree and Disagree. I have lived in many estates before. One can earn decent wages if they are hardworking, with or without minimum wage. I have seen in many instances where they waste time and money on booze, gambling, videos, 4d numbers Eg, they skip they daily wage and are more interested to gamble during funerals rather than pay their respects and get back to work.

2.12 Equal recognition as sons of soil for all Malayan born.3. And whereasBased on the aforesaid proposals the Malaysian Federal Constitution, which is the supreme law of Malaysia as drawn out by the Reid Commission in 1957 was passed by the inaugural Malayan Parliament and which formed the basis of independent Malaysia.4. And whereasOver the last 50 years since independence on the 31st day of August 1957, the United Malays Organisation (UMNO) controlled Malaysian government with their majoritarian might, and backed by police, Attorney General’s Chambers, Judiciary, civil service and the media continuously violated the Malaysian Federal Constitution by their racist and Islamic extremist policies and which in effect have created an apartheid system ala Malaysia and especially resulting in the degeneration of at least 70% of the ethnic minority Indians to become the underclass of Malaysia who end up in the poor and hardcore poor category. The rest of the 29% raised above the poor and hardcore poor category wholly and/or substantially through their own efforts, sacrifices and labour with no or very little assistance by the UMNOcontrolled government. The 1% of the cream thrives anyway.

Aparthied System, ghosh, really. Nothing wrong with Indian Malaysians and all the blame on UMNO and Government. Not sure about the figures though. A lorry driver relative of mine (with standard 6 education) and his friends earns more than the national average wage, drives a car and have their own house. They are forward looking families who gives emphasis to education for their children. Most Indian Malaysian have good living standards compared to say 10 years ago. Agreed that maybe it was because of their own efforts, but then it would not have been possible if there are Aparthied like policies, there are always opportunities, it’s up to us to grab it and make things work to our advantage.

5. And whereasThe plight of the Indians have been made worse by the racist UMNO mindset having spilled over to even almost all of the Opposition parties, NGOs’, Civil society, Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), Bar Council, the media etc who do not take up the Indian plight for they are deemed to be lacking “political mileage” (race based) and/or no funding.

Not quite sure what is their contention here. Though that they blindly supported opposition in the recent elections.

6. And whereasThe Indians having no or very little opportunities for upward mobility or hope either turn to crime (60% of Malaysian detainees are Indians though they are only 8% of population-Suhakam 2005) or end up committing suicide which is 1000% higher than Malays (Utusan Malaysia 12.9.2005).

Again, opportunities are there. As long as Indian Malaysians do not prioritise education for their children, nothing will change. Suicide is more of a cultural issue. I may be wrong but never heard of Indians committing suicide due to lack of jobs or due to hunger!.

7. And Whereas at a public forum attended by 1,000 over Indians on 28.7.2007 at 7.00p.m at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, the participants unanimously resolved to forward their 18 point demands and which this peaceful assembly gathered here today on the 12th day of August 2007 at Putrajaya once again unanimously resolves to demand as hereinbelow outlined.And now it is hereby demanded for and on behalf of the two (2) Million ethnic minority Indians in Malaysia from the UMNO controlled Malaysian Government their 18 point demands as follows: -Hey, I thought there are officially 1.8 Million Indian Malaysians and by the way who appointed them to speak on behalf of the whole Indian Malaysians population?. (1) End 50 years of violations of the Malaysian Federal Constitution.(2) End Racism, end Islamic extremism and end Malay privileges on the 50th year golden jubilee mega Independence celebrations of Malaysia on 31st August 2007.(3) Call for affirmative action plans for all poor Malaysians especially the ethnic minority Indians. A Protection of EthnicMinority Malaysian Indian Act 2007 be passed to secure and safeguard the interests of the poor and defenceless ethnic Indian Minority Community.They want Malay Privileges to be ended, but still have the cheek to ask for affirmative action for Indian Malaysians and special act for a particular race. Mana boleh kawan!(4) All 523 Tamil Schools in Malaysia be made fully aided government schools with immediate effect and to have equal and same facilities as granted to national schools especially in terms of financial allocations, sufficient graduate teaching staff, financial allocation for extra tuition, ample computers, Information Technology facilities, school fields, sports, recreational facilities, air conditioned library, textbook loans, kindergarden, school uniforms and pocket money for poor pupils, nutritional food programmes, teaching aids, school building, infrastructure, film screening room and facilities, financial assistance for poor students, rehabilitation classes, non Muslim religious classes, etc. A RM 100 Billion grant @ 20 Billion per year with effect from 2007 be allocated to Indians under the 9th Malaysia Plan (5 years) for refurbishing the existing 523 Tamil schools and rebuilding of the 300 Tamil schools demolished over the last 50 years.

The figures appears to have been plucked from the sky. The government total budget for education is about 20 Billion per year. What do they want to do with 20 Billion, built castles? If HINDRAF comes up with a proper studies and blueprint with proper plan, I am sure the government would consider.

(5) Extend and implement with immediate effect to Indians the affirmative action plans, grants, scholarships, loans etc as extended to Malay Muslim citizens with the view to providing equal opportunities for higher education, university education, admission to foreign universities, post graduate studies locally and overseas, Trade and Skills Training Institutions, Science Colleges especially for each and every Indian student from the 70% poor and hardcore poor Indian category.
These are all available, Indian Malaysians only need to go through the right channels rather than complaining although I quite agree that allocation for scholarship must be reviewed.

(6) Extend and implement with immediate effect affirmative action plans as extended to Malay Muslim citizens with the view to provide equal opportunities in acquiring wealth, venturing into business, trade, industries, medium and small scale industries, government linked companies, corporate sector, procurement of direct government contracts, in acquiring licenses for contractors, blue chip and / or guaranteed return shares, lorry, taxi and bus permits, loans and licenses to venture into trade, business banking and the corporate sector for each and every Indian from especially the 70% poor andhardcore poor Indian category. To this effect the UMNO controlled government allocates RM100 Billion at RM20 Billion per annum with effect from 2007 and implements successful strategic schemes in investments for the Indians as implemented for the Malay Muslims with the view to the Indians acquiring at least 10% of the nation’s equity.

Again, figures seems ridiculous. Who on earth would provide guaranteed return shares. They too want direct government contract, now who is talking about equality?

(7) All the aforesaid is to be handled directly by the UMNO controlled government and UMNO is to stop “playing politics” through the “Mandore” (supervisor) system by dishing out on a piecemeal and/or peanuts basis or merely public and/or newspaper announcements and declarations by the Malaysian Indian Congress ( M.I.C) who have no or very little power or say in the UMNO controlled Malaysian government.

This is just an emotional outburst, nothing else!

(8) 20% of the Government top most level postings (Secretaries Generals), Middle level Management (Directors) and management level (Managers) postings, and the same for the Private Sectors, and positions of District Officers; Foreign and Diplomatic Service positions, civil service positions are reserved for Indians for the next 15 years.

Now, they want quotas, thought that they wanted equal opportunity!

(9) The UMNO controlled government makes public and is transparent on all of the aforesaid affirmative action plans i.e. the aforesaid education places, licenses, scholarships, grants, loans, permits, licenses, opportunities etc by publishing the same in the official website of the Government of Malaysia as and when the same is granted and/or on a monthly basis specifying the Indian beneficiaries thereto.

(10) Stop the indiscriminate unconstitutional and unlawful demolitions of Hindu temples, crematoriums and burial sites inMalaysia. All existing Hindu temples, crematoriums and burial sites be granted state land and permanently gazetted as Hindu temple reserves as has been done for all Islamic places of worship and burial sites. Compensation at RM10 Million per temple be paid by the UMNO controlled Malaysian Government for the 15,000 Hindu temples demolished up to date over the last 50 years.

Agreed that government assist temples but it is ridiculous to demand compensation when all those demolished are illegal temples. Now my turn, I would like to demand HINDRAF to do a proper study and decide how many temples are required in each parlimentary constituency and then ask for government aid. Many temples are built to boost egos of certain Indian Malaysians and are hardly frequented except for certain days. In many town, there are far too many temples built unnecessarily with Indian Malaysians funds. The money donated mainly by Indian Malaysians could have been well spent on education of their children.

Every individual given the Right to practice and profess Religion/s of his/her choice in accordance to Standards adopted by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. The State and its Authorities barred from interfering in the personal beliefs and conscience of individual citizens . Disputes between Muslims & Non Muslims should be adjudicated in the Civil Courts.

Agreed but Indian Malaysians have to be responsible too when they convert. The root cause is Indian Malaysians themselves. Most of the recent cases are their (Indian Malaysians) own doing. They were never been forced to convert.

(11) Stop the victimization and direct discrimination by the Police and all other state authorities of the Indians. All Malaysians earning RM 3,000.00 and below are to be fully borne by state funded legal aid for any criminal charges they face.

There maybe cases where victimisation happened but why should taxpayers money used for criminals.

(12) The UMNO controlled government forms with immediate effect a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Kg Medan Mini Genocide, condemns the violence thereto, apologises to the Indian community on this mini genocide, undertakes not to repeat the same in future and pay a compensation of RM1,000, 000.00 for each and every citizen killed, permanently maimed, maimed or injured in this tragedy.

Agree with the need for government to come clean on this issue. Maybe compensation, what about those killed by Indian Malaysians.

(13) Each and every Indian especially the Indian poor in the aforesaid 70% Indian poor and hardcore poor category is paid compensation which is to be adjudicated and determined by the United Nations Secretary General for the aforesaid 50 years of Constitutional violations by the UMNO controlled government.

It never says how the compensation are to be determined. Why UN?

(14) All homeless Malaysians are to be provided affordable homes and not low cost flats by law. A minimum wage of RM1,000.00 for each and every Malaysian be made law.

Agreed. But there are people who refuse to move even when provided with below RM 100 rental flats! The same group of people can afford to spend on ASTRO, VCDs, booze, unnecessary celebrations etc.

(15) A Royal Commission of Inquiry is initiated to report on the aforesaid constitutional violations by the UMNO controlled government and appropriate recommendations for amongst others further affirmative action plans for especially the 70% Indian poor and hardcore poor category. (16) All forms of racial and religious discrimination, oppression and suppression of the Indians / Hindus in both the public and private sectors are stopped with immediate effect and a Race Relations Commission Act 2007, an Equal Opportunities Commission Act 2007 and a Freedom of Religion Commissions Act 2007 be passed and powerful Commission thereto be put into force to give effect to anti racism, anti Islamic extremism and anti direct discrimination practices by the UMNO controlled government in both the public and private sectors.Never seen those proposed Acts, so cant really comment.(17) The UMNO controlled government passes specific laws to give effect to the Independence of the Judiciary, the Attorney General’s Chambers, Civil service, Police Force, Army, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the Malaysian media and for the Opposition parties, NGOs’ Civil Society groups, Bar Council and the media not todiscriminate and side step Indian issues but instead to voice out the same without fear or favour. The Malaysian media is also to be legislated to report the real happenings especially on the 70% Indian poor and hardcore poor without fear or favour.

Most are in the works, now they want Media Controls, to report in their favour.

(18) A minimum of 20 Opposition members of Parliament are elected exclusively by the Indian Community to represent their interest at the highest political level and also as a Parliamentary Democracy check and balance and the same is safeguarded and entrenched into the Federal Constitution and which is to be increased proportionately with the increase in Parliamentary seats.

Yet another request for quota!

In summary, this is a poorly drafted memorandum,full of holes, vague, racist to the core aimed at UMNO, opportunistic and with multiple figures plucked from the sky. It only goes to show how people may be well read but not wisely educated. At least this memorandum is a bit toned down as compared to the ones purportedly addressed to Queen Elizabeth.
Being an Indian Malaysian, I’m quite embarassed with the qulity of this memorandum. I think I have all the rights to talk about HINDRAF since they claim to represent me.


Claims against the British Government

First and foremost, it was our grandparents decision to move to Malaysia for a better life would be the rootcause that brought about this situation, hundred years later. Nobody would want to imagine how Indian Malaysians would have fared if their forefathers chose to remain in India.
Their demand that the British government compensate each Indian Malaysians 2 Million ringgit is ridiculous if not stupid. I shook my head in disbelieve, asking myself how could a group of lawyers write such an outrageous memorandum which includes words such as ‘ethnic Cleansing’ when the same group of lawyers are living comfortably in this country.
I would agree that some of their demands are ought to be considered but they ( Licenses, University seat allocation etc) are something that has been brought up by other parties long time ago.

Indian Malaysian Representation in Government & Society

Indian Malaysian are broadly represented in various political parties, cabinet, government agencies, trade unions, the cabinet, private sectors and independent institutions such a NGOs. To say that Indian Malaysians are without voice is certainly not true. In fact prominent NGOs and trade unions are usually headed by Indian Malaysians.

There are far too many Indian based organisation, political parties, NGOs and not forgetting race and caste based societies. This is perhaps why everyone lost their focus and government listened to only MIC.
MIC is partly to blame because after decades in power, they became complacent, corrupt and clueless about the situation on the ground. But then again Indian Malaysians are not even united in the first place..
Indian Malaysians are reasonably represented in the Parliament and State Assemblies, local councils and city halls, therefore it would not be accurate to say Indian Malaysians have no say at all.

I wonder why HINDRAF did not request government to abolished all caste based Indian societies, when they are requesting malay rights to be abolished.

HINDRAF was born of out of frustration of certain groups with the government and particularly MIC. The same group of lawyers actually made their money out of people’s misery, usually suing the government and institutions for negligence, death in lock-up etc.


HINDRAF(Hindu Rights Action Force) may sound like a Hindu Extremist outfit, claims to represent all Indian Malaysians, when they actually focus on the plight of ethnic Tamilians. Their propaganda materials, functions and speeches are all in Tamil. The other ethnic Indian Malaysians such as Telugus, Malayalees, Ceylonees and Punjabis are ignored.
They should be renamed as Tamil Rights Action Force (TAMRAF)
The Indian Malaysian Dilemma The root cause of most of the issues highlighted by HINDRAF are Indian Malaysians own doing, not UMNO or the government.

Hindu Temples & Tamil Schools

Bulk of HINDRAF’s complains are towards the treatment of Hindu Temples and Tamil Schools. The temple issues are often played up to raise emotions. The actual fact is there are more than enough temples for Indian Malaysians. Indian Malaysians built temples eveywhere they liked, according to their whims and fancies, and then blame government when someone claims the land.

For example, there are a dozen temples in Jalan Ipoh/Sentul area when probably two would be have been sufficient. Indian Malaysians built illegally, spend millions of ringgit but do not think! Some are even built side by side while others are built for the needs of certain caste.

Why aren’t there similar issues with Chinese temples or churches? Because they are built according to needs of the population of the particular area unlike Indian temples, where it is usually built without thinking about current and future needs. Chinese temples are usually built by Associations held by group of trustees and they ensure that the own the land before they built anything on it,good example of right thinking.
So, who is at fault here?The same applies to Tamil Schools. If everything would have been done correctly and legally from the beginning, none of these would have surfaced. This is also where MIC failed.

HINDRAF also never fought for the rights of mother tongue education for Indian Malaysians of Telugu, Malayalee, Punjabi or Ceylonese descent while claiming to represent all Indian Malaysians. Yet the had the cheek to demonise UMNO and Malays.

Jobs, Business & Tertiary Education Opportunities

HINDRAF’s insinuations that Indian Malaysians are denied all the opportunitites are grossly inaccurate. There are many thriving businesses owned by Indian Malaysians although the numbers may be small in comparison to Chinese Malaysians and Malay.
There are known difficulties in getting permits and licenses that the governement could consider to be improved. . The other problem is that Indian Malaysians are engrossed in doing what they know best, I,e traditional Indian related Businesses such as Indian Groceries, Clothings, Scrap Metal, Money Changing, Jewellery etc and not venturing into businesses which are the dominated by other races. This is where they probably need support or guidance.

In terms job opportunity, Indian Malaysians are doing extremely well in professional fields. Many of them are prominent lawyers, doctors and engineers. They are widely employed in the private sector and generally does well in MNCs. Not sure why HINDRAF is bent on getting Indian Malaysian get employed more in Government Sector.

HINDRAF also never spoke about getting assistance on making Indian Malaysian more employable.

Educational & Economic Upliftment

A lorry driver relative of mine (with standard 6 education) and his friends earns more than the national average wage, drives a car and have their own house. They are forward looking families who gives emphasis to education for their children. Most Indian Malaysian have good living standards compared to say 10 years ago. Agreed that maybe it was because of their own efforts, but then it would not have been possible if there are Aparthied like policies, there are always opportunities, it’s up to us to grab it and make things work to our advantage.

HINDRAF have given little attention to the need to focus on holistic education of their own (continous learning) or for their children as only education can provide upliftment of the whole society and not Tamil Schools or temples.

Eg, You hardly see any reading materials in their homes but latest tamil movie VCDs are there all the time.

HINDRAF Followers/ Sympathisers

HINDRAF followers are mainly people frustrated with government when things are not favourable to them although many of their own follower are quite well to do. They are not grateful for what they have and want more and want it easy.
Having some close relatives and friends who are staunch HINDRAF supporters, I can easily describe the charactristics of a HINDRAF followers.
Some actually seek connections or in local language 'lobang' or any form of short cuts to achieve wealth, to get contracts, they dont mind bribing policeman to get out of trouble or favour, spend tones of money of booze, women, focus little onself and children education, able to spend excessively on private functions, jewerlley and 4D numbers.

The same followers can be found in Chinese Coffee shops with 20 bottles of beer downed, Expensive pubs (with few bottles of whiskeys finished, while embracing some foreign women) , Chow Kits & Red Light Area in Brickfields and some as far as phuket. They have no qualms to do all the above, but claims that they are being suppressed, victimised and marginalised.
They are the same people who talks nonsense half the time, loves negativity and some are racist to the core.They are also prone to listening to what others say i.e huge cow herd mentality rather than verify what they hear.
In short they are all hypocrites, I am in no way saying that I don’t do any of the above, I would feel guilty if I went to the streets claiming victimisation or suppression and later walk into 4D Number Shop and bet against the number 2511 for hundreds of ringgit.

Conclusion

While I agree that there are still poverty amongst Indian Malaysians, the same can be said with the Malays and even Chinese. Malaysians must be gratefull that not a single race are rich or satisfied, if there’s such a situation, it spells trouble for the whole country.
My arguments may sound flimsy, but the point is that there’s nothing to gain from pointing fingers at everybody else except ourselves. HINDRAF’s demands are grossly one-sided ignoring completely weaknesses within Indian Malaysian community.
Hindraf’s demands are not likely to help the community in the long term as they are only asking for fish and not a fishing rod or if one looks at the amount(RM) that HINDRAF demanded,perhaps they are asking for a deep sea fishing boat.
Indian Malaysians are all not angels themselves but they should not simply embarass themselves with nonsensical memorandum that we know (but fail to admit) are full of half-truths.
HINDRAF have successfully played the emotions of Indian Malaysians, triggered their inferiority complex, allowed themselves to be exploited by some political parties and used during the recent elections. While they are proud to shout’Makkal Sakthi’with full emotion, most of their arguments and demands, are with no basis whatsoever and highly unlikely to be fulfilled. HINDRAF leaders know that.

Most of the followers would have never read the both memorandum in it’s true form.Most of the demands look appealing when read in Tamil,while some are included to point out that they are at the losing end compared to Malays.Some remarks and statements don't really look atrocious or ridiculous when translated. Eg they would have realised that there would not have been any Indian Malaysians still alive if ‘ethnic cleansing’ was practised for 5 decades by the UMNO, let alone demonstrate with holding Mahatma Gandhi’s potrait on one hand while sipping Tiger beer on the other, along Jalan Ampang.

Malay Dilemma

This feedback is from a friend of mine in response to one of my earlier blog entry. I am reproducing this comment as it reflects current sentiments on the ground. This is, in no way reflects my opinion.

Sekarang ni, isu isu tentang melayu banyak diperkatakan. umno dan pas nak bergabung untuk melayu, uitm nak dibuka untuk bukan melayu, majlis peguam pertikai hak melayu dan banyak lagi. secara automatik, berduyun-duyun orang melayu berdemonstrasi, menghantar petisyen untuk mengecamnya. mereka kata, melayu sudah lama bersabar.... jangan dijolok sarang lebah (jangan cabar melayu). saya memang akui yang melayu ni amat terkenal dengan sikap pemarahnya.... tapi selalunya tak bertempat.

Keluarga saya (pro kerajaan) memang sudah maklum yang saya lebih cenderung kepada pembangkang... jadi apabila timbul isu-isu ini, mereka akan jadikan ia modal untuk menghentam saya. saya menghormati mereka kerana mereka sudah berpengalaman tapi kadangkala apa yang mereka luahkan saya tak dapat terima.

saya dapat tahu yang kebanyakkan cikgu melayu akan cuba sebaik-baiknya untuk menolong pelajar melayu. kalau lagi sikit nak lulus... mereka akan tambah markah. mungkin untuk bukan melayu pun mereka bagi juga. tapi cikgu bukan melayu tidak akan mengubah markah walaupun lagi sikit pun. yang menjadi mangsa ialah cikgu bukan melayu... mereka dituduh tidak berperikemanusian, kejam dan tidak mahu tolong pelajar melayu. yang patut dimarah ialah pelajar itu sendiri... siapa suruh malas nak belajar sampai tak lulus... kalau nak dapat A belajar la betul-betul. hak pelajar itu ialah untuk dapat markah yang dia berhak... tidak lebih dan tidak kurang.

satu lagi yang saya dengar kebanyakkan sijil berhenti sekolah sekarang ni dah tak boleh pakai. cikgu-cikgu sekarang dengan senangnya akan memperakui yang pelajar aktif dalam pelbagai kegiatan kokurikulum. ini semata-mata dibuat supaya pelajar akan mendapat markah yang banyak ketika mengisi borang UPU. tidakkah kita pelik kerana dalam data UPU menunjukkan banyak pelajar aktif dalam kokurikulum sedangkan kita tahu banyak pelajar menghabiskan masa dengan internet, main game, pergi tusyen dan duduk dirumah. tak hairanlah waktu saya di universiti dulu... dalam sijil kata wakil sekolah dalam debate... tapi suruh buat presentation depan kuliah... berterabur. dalam sijil kata ahli kadet tentera sekolah... suruh kawat tak tahu. apa yang cikgu-cikgu itu buat sebenarnya ialah tidak menolong sesiapa.

isu uitm pula.... siapa khalid ibrahim tu? dia berhak ke nak tukar dasar-dasar uitm? dia hanyalah menteri besar selangor... tak berhak nak tukar dasar-dasar uitm. dia hanya memberi cadangan... terpulangla pada pihak-pihak yang berhak keatas dasar-dasar uitm membincangkannya. kenapa nak marah-marah? kenapa tak marah apabila uitm tak tersenarai dalam 200 ranking terbaik? kenapa tak marah apabila banyak graduan uitm menganggur? saya dengar uitm la saja tinggal untuk melayu.... unversiti MIC di sungai petani tu walaupun dibuka untuk melayu tapi ramai melayu yang masuk tak tahan. banyak yang dah keluar. saya tidak pasti sama ada pelajar ini diberhentikan atau keluar dengan rela. universiti lain pun sama saja. saya tak pernah dengar pelajar bukan melayu diberhentikan kerana gagal peperiksaan... semua melayu saja. jadi apa bezanya? jangan marahkan universiti... marah la pelajar-pelajar yang kena buang tu. pelajar lain ok je belajar sampai habis....cuba fikir kalau universiti al-azhar di mesir cakap hanya pelajar arab yang beragama islam saja yang boleh jadi pelajarnya??

saya dari kecil memang rapat dengan bukan melayu. dari sekolah rendah sampai sekolah menengah memang rapat. dekat universiti pun saya ada banyak kenalan bukan melayu. di tempat kerja saya sekarang... 50% india, 25% melayu, 20% cina dan 5% orang putih dan lain-lain. banyak orang kata, orang bukan melayu rapat dengan orang melayu kalau ada kepentingan sahaja. bila dah tak ada kepentingan, mereka tidak akan kisah kepada kita. memanglah!!! lumrah alam... dah tak berguna buat apa simpan? memanglah habis madu sepah dibuang.... sepah tu nak buat apa? kalau kaum melayu sentiasa memperkasakan diri masing-masing... tentu orang bukan melayu akan sentiasa bekerja sama dengan orang melayu. jangan marah mereka... cermin diri sendiri.

dalam kad pengenalan saya... saya bangsa melayu. ayah saya seorang pengkaji sejarah. dia telah membuat kajian salahsilah keluarga saya. dia dapati asal usul keluarga saya berasal dari india. ini bermakna moyang saya berketurunan india. bagaimana saya boleh menjadi melayu?
kalau saya boleh menjadi melayu... kenapa rakan-rakan saya yang berlainan bangsa tidak mendapat hak yang sama dengan saya?

oleh itu, saya ingin cadangkan dasar-dasar kerajaan dan pelembagaan dikaji semula agar lebih relevan dengan keadaan semasa. yang saya tahu, hanya islam sahaja yang relevan sepanjang masa. inikan pula dasar dan pelembagaan yang dicipta oleh manusia...

saya minta maaf jika apa yang saya tulis ini menyinggung mana-mana pihak. jika ada perkara yang tidak betul... sila betulkan.

Dr M: Malaysia lacks good decision-making

Dr M: Malaysia lacks good decision-making Karen ArukesamyKUALA LUMPUR (Aug 26,2008) : Malaysia is lacking in good decision-making because it fails to anticipate the problems of the future.
Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said to achieve Vision 2020, "we must anticipate the problems we may face in the future and be ready to make decisions to counter them".
Mahathir, who introduced Vision 2020 to Malaysia, said the world is going through price hikes in fuel, food, aluminium and steel and Malaysia now needs to be able to handle the high-cost situation.
"Our people are used to very low cost of living, services and food and they are not prepared to face a high cost of living. I think we need to learn from countries with a high cost of living -- how do they survive, how do they prosper and how to be competitive," he said, at the Futurist forum 2008 entitled "Mindset: A framework to anticipate the future" today.
"If we do not do that, then I think we cannot achieve Vision 2020."
Addressing questions from participants on Malaysia's incompetency, Mahathir said: "Malaysia is the most planned country in the world. But people do not follow the plans prepared for them. If people had followed the plans, we would have been a developed country by now."
He said every plan has to have an implementation strategy, without which the plan is useless.
"Fortunate for Malaysia, we do have an implementation unit and the Economic Planning Unit," he said.
Mahathir said planning for people is much more difficult because people resent others telling them what to do or how to think.
"I have spent 22 years trying to change the mindset of the Malays, for example, and I must admit that I have failed in that, but people won't give any more time."
Among other issues, Mahathir also said the education system had become very politicised.
He said the people's mentality has not changed, they want different kinds of education system because they want to preserve their own languages, they want more emphasis in religious education and so on.
He said the people like to blame politicians but the politicians are complying with the people's wishes.
Mahathir also said national intergration is difficult to achieve because politicians are bringing out sensitive issues which create more division amongst the people.
"People think for a multiracial country, we are doing rather well but even then we need to be extremely careful," he added. Reproduced from The Sun, 26 August 2008.

Agree that current leaders have no direction, let alone making wise decisions.

Malaysians generally resent changes, despite all the claims of wanting a change, especially change of government. Majority Malaysians are comfortable with what they are doing, not wanting to come out from their comfort zone to do something different.

I quite agree with the statement that Education is politicised, not really by politicians but by the selfish people themselves.

People blame the politicians for everything that are not favourable to them but aren't the same people are the ones who chose the politicians in the first place that we ended up with the amateur cinematographer, housewife, street fighters, close one eye businessmen, local warlords, gangsters, racist, religious extremist (PAS & HINDRAF), etc as politicans and declared that it was a new dawn for Malaysia. Serves them (Rakyat) right!!

Malaysians forgets easily, ungrateful, loves untruths, rumours, loves to hear the loudest(no matter if the person speaks nonense) and spends the whole day talking and thinking negatively that the accumulated negative energy pushed the whole country into a wrong direction.

We nowadays hardly hear any politician, be it from the government or opposition, who speaks the same way as DR M did; simple, straight forward, logical and full of common sense.

There are either complete silence (Government) or too much rhetorics and nonsensical half truths (Opposition) and recently more swearing, that does not really make us think, it only making us shake our head far too regularly of recent. To me, at these trying and confusing moments, Mahathirism rules.