HIndraf Makkal Shakti: Apr 19, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

66 died in police custody in the last 5 years, we estimate 95% are Indians

This is the written reply by Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussien in Parliament (The Star 14/4/2010 at page N13). But we estimate that 95% of these 66 who had died in police custody at the average rate of one person every month to be Indians, under this 53 year old UMNO regime, and who were marginalised. And the PKR, DAP and PAS leaders would not bother speaking up against these injustices because the victims are merely the Indians.

The aforesaid newsreport that 46 out of the 66 were due to diseases while 19 were due to infighting or suicide has been UMNOs’ traditional lie in Parliament.
How come they neatly die within 14 days of detention in police lock ups? Suddenly when they are put in police lock ups they end up hanging themselves. A few years back the police even had the cheek to explain than an Indian boy had hanged himself with a saree. How did the police send the Indian boy into their lock up with a saree in his hands?
But the UMNO police literally gets away with cold blooded murder right in their police lock ups, which incidentally are supposed to be about the safest places in this country.
But then UMNO’s police also explains that they die because of infighting.
And supposedly all the 66 cases have been reported to the police and a coroners’s Inquest was conducted.
And in all of these UMNO controlled Coroners Courts or the High Courts there has been zero finding of murder, manslaughter, willful criminal neglect, criminal negligence etc.
An Independent Malaysian Judiciary?
P. Uthayakumar
HRP Secretary General

State of the Indians – stroke of the pen? (Malaysiakini)

malaysiakini — April 10, 2010 — It’s been just over two years since the March 08 general election that saw the opposition capturing the states of Kedah, Penang, Selangor and retaining Kelantan.
The opposition loose coalition calling themselves Pakatan Rakyat which comprises of PKR, DAP and PAS also swept to victory in the state of Perak, but leter defections by three of their state representatives saw them lose the state to the Barisan Nasional.
In our attempts to look into the state of Indian affairs two years after the Pakatan victories we talk to community leaders for their assessment of the PR performance because it was on the back of Indian anti-BN sentiments and votes that resulted in the opposition victories.
In this segment we talk to K Arumugam who is MPSJ counsillor and human rights activist and P Uthayakumar who, with his brother Waythamoorthy led the November 25 2007 Hindraf rally that saw 30,000 (some say) ethnic Indians gather at the KLCC to demand their rights as citizens of the country.

UMNO retrenches 20 Indian rubber tappers without alternative arrangements

The Star on 25/3/10 at page N 55 reported that these rubber tappers are to be moved some 65km away by the now presumably UMNO linked Plantation company. By this treatment the net effect of all these is that the Indians are now colonised by UMNO for 53 years.
P. Uthayakumar

UMNO: No Indian national primary and secondary school headmasters. But a Malay teacher-to-headmaster in four years and a Dean in 12 years

Our condolences to the family of the Hulu Selangor M.P. With no disrespect may we append as follows:-
At age 22, this gentle-man because a teacher. Within four years he rose to become a headmaster of the Kuala Kubu Baru Secondary School. And within the next two years he was appointed a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
He got his doctorate in political science from University of California presumably on a full UMNO government scholarship. And within the next six years he became the Dean of UKM’s education faculty. And finally became the Deputy Menteri Besar of Selangor (NST 26/3/2010 at page 6).
It took him just four year to rise from a teacher to a secondary school headmaster. But an Indian however qualified he may be can wait for even forty years but will never get to become a headmaster of a secondary. In fact there are zero Indians that we know who have become a headmaster of a primary or a secondary school.
In the USA since 1965 the blacks were allowed to vote and within a span of 45 years the white majority Americans were even prepared to elect a black “muslim” as their President. But here in Malaysia an Indian cannot even become a Post Master let alone a low level administrator, i.e., a District Officer.
This level of UMNOs’ racism, religious extremism and supremacy does not exist in any other part of the world, the last having ended in Apartheid South Africa some 20 years ago.
P. Uthayakumar

UMNOs’ High yielding goat rearing but Indians excluded

It was reported in 2009 that Malay-sia imports 75% of its beef, 90% of its mutton and 95% of its milk. But in almost all of UMNO’s projects for the poor (Malays) with cow and goat farming, the poor Indians have been excluded.
In this latest example contract farming by Felda, Tekun, Veterinary Services Department, etc, loans and training ranging from RM20,000 and up to RM100,000 are given out by UMNO to eradicate poverty among the poor Malays.
But what about thousands of poor, illiterate and unskilled Indians? Why are they excluded from this poverty eradication schemes? Why also the pin drop silence by PKR, DAP and PAS leaders and their 78 MPs?
Because they are soft targets with no or very little political power.
Our only way forward is the Indian political empowerment strategy- the way forward.
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate justice

UMNOs’ high yielding fresh water fish industry for poor Malays, but poor Indians excluded

This ided from the UMNO led governments’ eradication plans for the Malay poverty.
Of course UMNO very quickly get their MIC mandores to as usual say that the Indians are not interested.
But we know of Indians particularly from Ipoh and Taiping in the former mining pools who never got Mardi and the Fisheries Department help but were told to vacate by UMNOs’ Local Authorities enforcement officers.
We are yet to hear of a single Indian who could put up fish cages and embark on fresh water breeding or aquaculture in any of the natural lakes and rivers in Malaysia. The only Indian aquaculturist in the UPM had his contract terminated and was replaced by a malay.
And the supposedly multi-racial PKR, DAP and PAS will never question this UMNOs’ racism by commission and PKR, DAP and PAS’ racism by omission, but we in turn are accused by Anwar Ibrahim of embarking on a racist agenda for merely speaking up against racism.
J. Lalitha

Hulu Selangor: PKR Indian Exco mandore’s dog and pony show curtains drawn

In our posting yesterday (30/3/10) we had predicted that there would be an accelerated wayang kulit by this PKR Indian Exco Mandore’s MIC style, in view of the upcoming Hulu Selangor by elections.
True to expectations this PKR Indian Exco Mandore has caused to be published in the front pages of today’s Malaysia Nanban ( 31/3/10) and also in Makkal Osai ( 31/3/10) at page 10 that the Bukit Beruntung Tamil School and Hindu cemetery would be given (an additional) four acres of land and six acres of land respectively. Why not land for all Tamil schools, cemeteries and Hindu temples in Selangor all in one go as a permanent solution .
But this Indian PKR mandore did not give in a black and white letter by the Selangor state government to both this school and the cemetery. What the MIC mandores had been doing in the previous 50 years for his “Tuan”, this PKR Indian Exco mandore is doing for his “Tuan” Anwar Ibrahim.
And Anwar Ibrahim in his 2008 general election campaign promised to bring change. Yes Anwar brought about change. He replaced one MIC Exco mandore with a PKR Indian Exco mandore. Watch the dog and pony show from now onwards until at least the Hulu Selangor by elections are over.
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate Justice.

‘Give Tamil schools land first’ Report from www.FreeMalaysiaToday.com

By B Nantha Kumar and Luke Rintod

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf will only campaign for Pakatan Rakyat in the Hulu Selangor by-election if the state government commits itself to giving land to all Tamil schools.
Its information chief S Jayathas said the the Selangor government must “not just make promises but must allocate” land for all 98 Tamil schools in the state.
“We don’t want verbal guarantees anymore from the Selangor menteri besar. Give us the commitment in black and white… or give it to the media in black and white,” he told FMT today when asked if Hindraf will support PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim in the upcoming by-election.
Nomination is tomorrow, while polling will be held on April 25. Some 19 percent of Hulu Selangor’s voters are Indians.
Yesterday, BN announced MIC information chief P Kamalanathan as its candidate.
Hindraf has been openly critical of the Pakatan state government, alleging that it had failed to take affirmative action to improve the lives of the marginalised Indian community.

Hindraf strongman P Uthayakumar, who met Sabah PKR chief Jeffrey Kitingan yesterday, said while Hindraf had long since given up hope that the BN would address the plight of Indians in Malaysia, it was also not satisfied with Pakatan because an "Umno mindset or culture” has crept into PKR.
Uthayakumar, who is also the pro-tem secretary-general of the yet-to-be-registered Human Rights Party Malaysia, had indicated the group’s stand to Jeffrey and members of the Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMa) comprising Daniel John Jambun, Dr Nicholas Bawin and several other PKR supporters.
The delegation is here to support Zaid’s campaign to retain the PKR seat, previously held by Zainal Abidin Ahmad, who died on March 25. Before the election, BN candidate G Palanivel held the seat. He lost to Zainal by a slim 198 majority.
A member of the CigMa delegation, when asked to comment on the meeting with Uthaya, said: "Hindraf was adamant that it would only support Zaid if the Selangor government could satisfy at least one of its 100 requests to Pakatan”
"Uthayakumar wants the Selangor government to allocate land to Tamil schools in Selangor.
"If Zaid or Menteri Besar (Khalid Ibrahim) can give them an assurance, then they will come out to support Zaid.”

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Some questions from our Penang Friends and HIndraf/HRP's responses

Why did BN field an Indian Candidate in Hulu Selangor despite protests from UMNO, if Indians are irrelevant to BN?
The Indians votes are the only thing relevant of the Indians to UMNO. This is UMNO’s basic political axiom.

Always bear this in mind.
By Naragan
UMNO uses an Indian face to win this election and by the way this also helps them perpetuate the illusion of UMNO including the Indians, that’s all. Always remember - a vote for MIC is not a vote for MIC per se, or for you or for me. It is only a vote for UMNO – always has been and always will be. They hold all the levers of power – all.

In Hulu Selangor, if UMNO did not field an MIC candidate, UMNO will surely lose that seat. Consider the following analysis from Subramaniam Bharathy:
The electorate was 63,600 strong in 2008 March. The number of people who voted on that fateful day was 47,600 (75% turnout). Let us assume for the purpose of this analysis that the 25% who did not vote on that day were evenly spread between the Malays, Chinese and Indians. There were some 1500 spoilt votes. Given that the BN candidate was Indian, it is likely that most who spoilt their votes that day would have been Malay voters, because of their indifference. A large number of Chinese and Indian voters were all charged up to vote out UMNO in March 2008.

If 53% (based on the ethnic breakout) of the voters on that day were Malay, and 1500 Malay votes were spoilt, it would mean 23,700 Malay voters voted that day. 13,300 Chinese and 9,000 Indians also voted that day (all based on the ethnic breakdown). G. Palanivel of MIC received 22,979 votes. His opponent, the late Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad of PKR, got 23,177 votes. Almost even.

It would be reasonable to say that at least 60-70% of the votes of the Indians went to PKR or 5,500 to 6,300 Indian votes went to PKR. And it would also be reasonable to say that at least 70-80% of the Chinese votes went to PKR or 9,200 to 10,300 votes. So the non Malay votes that went to PKR were from 14,700 to 16,600.

That means PKR only received 6,500 to 8,400 Malay votes. Of the votes PKR received that day only 28% to 36% were Malays votes. 40-45% of the votes they received were Chinese votes and 20 – 32% of the votes were Indian votes.

That also means about 2700 to 4500 Indian votes would have gone to Palanivel or to UMNO (BN ouside, UMNO inside) on that day. Now, just think how many of these Indian votes UMNO would have been able to capture if the candidate was non-Indian, everything else remaining the same. Especially given the anti establishment feeling among the Indians. Cannot put a number to it, but that number would be surely less – don’t you think? The margin of victory finally was only just over a hundred. If the candidate had been non Indian then the result would have been a much larger margin of loss for UMNO. That’s why they gave the seat to an Indian candidate. Not because they think for a moment that the Indians are relevant.

Let us not continue to fall into their time worn trap. Use an Indian face, create and perpetuate an illusion of inclusiveness and hang on to UMNO power — Ketuanan Melayu. 52 years will become a 100 years like this – the future will just be a worse replication of the present.

For our relevance we have to look elsewhere, not the ethnicity of the candidates they put up. For instance in PR they have many Indian representatives. Does it mean that the Indians have that much more representation? PR calls themselves multiracial. The truth of the matter is, the Malays have conceded some of their policy power to the Chinese. Both of them have conceded nothing yet to the Indians. Indians have no influence at the level of policy. Let me quote from Iraiputtiran’s recent blog in the Human Rights Party website to illustrate my point:

"Nine Chinese schools in Perak were allocated 1,000acres of land. Tamil schools - one in Bagan Jermal of 0.9 ha,

- 349 planned villages and 134 new villages with 110,000 and 102,000 titles respectively are to be given out irrespective of the National Land Council’s order, involving almost all Malay and Chinese owners and land recipients excluding Indians,

- Freehold titles were given for just RM63 to 110,000 planned villages (almost 99% Malay) and 102,000 (estimated to almost 99% Chinese) Chinese new villagers in Perak, but not to Indians in Buah Pala or any other Indian settlement,

- DAP made such a big fuss over a pig abattoir in Kedah but not Buah Pala,

- A Teoh Beng Hock Trust Fund was created and “Justice for Teoh Beng Hock” campaign begun on DAP website and not for the so many other Indians killed by the Malaysian police,

- There a Ceramah Perdana over the Malay Chamber of Commerce marginalisation of Malays charges at Tapak Pesta for the Malays but none over the Kampung Buah Pala Issue

In summary, therefore, our relevance is not to be measured by the colour of skin of the representative but by the degree of influence we have over Government policy. Look at all that above and you tell me that the Indian representatives made a difference.

And by no means are we surrendering to irrelevance, just because we ignore one by-election.

The struggle of Hindraf and HRP is exactly about creating that relevance, but with a clear focus on relevance that matters – relevance in policy in areas that affect Indians in the country. Nothing short of that.

But we have to be realistic about our starting point. And it is pointless showing strength in places where it is not going to have any real impact and then deluding ourselves that we are relevant. Today, given the different political arrangements we have in the country, we are not relevant. That is the unfortunate truth.

Don’t the EC have absolute discretion to designate the constituency for the voters in a State despite their change of address by the voters within a State?

Wouldn’t BN take preemptive measures using the EC to spilt the Indian Voters in the State using the jurisdictional powers of EC?
The EC decides only the constituency delineation. Your address determines your constituency. So it is where you declare your address to be. You go to the JPN and register your hometown address then go to the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya in the 36th floor of Komtar (or at SPR office wherever else in Malaysia) and give them your latest address. They will capture it in the system. That becomes your voting address. EC can only try to delay the change of the address but they will be violating their charter if they do not reflect your voting address accurately. They say it can take up to 5 months before they will reflect the change, I do not see why, but that is what they say. You can check your voting address by going to www.spr.gov.my and go to “Ruangan Informasi” and click on “Semak daftar Pemilih” and then key in your IC number. You can see your voting constituency.

All this should reference the registered address only. If you change your address to your hometown address then you vote from your hometown. Lim Guan Eng is from where? Melaka or Penang? His father is from where? Melaka or Ipoh? Anwar Ibrahim’s is from where, KL or Permatang Pauh? Najib is from where, KL or Pekan. There are lots of people doing sinilar things.

I live now in Gelugor. Let us say I grew up in Prai and I still have relatives in Prai. Which is my hometown? I decide. Anything wrong with that? Just like that. We have to use the rules to our advantage, just as UMNO has done. For example, Putrajaya which is largely a Bumi constituency has only 5000+ voters, but they have one MP. On the other hand Kapar in Selangor has 112,000+ voters and they also have one MP. Kapar however is a non-Malay majority constituency. UMNO has done a lot of this kind of self motivated delineation – we call it gerrymandering. If they can do that and that is all within the rules, should we just keep quiet and let ourselves be had? Let us also do what the rules allow and create our survival strategy.

Even if the courts are going to act on address change issues, there are too many obstacles. It won’t be easy. You have 90 days before you need to finally reflect your address to be that of where you actually stay. In other words, you can be at an address other than where you actually live for more than 90 days and you violate nothing. Besides, you could have moved to another address because you are anticipating to move your job there soon, you are preparing for it. Or you have decided to move there because your children can go to a better school there – any number of legitimate reasons.

Besides, if they want to prosecute they will have to prosecute some bigwigs on both sides of the divide as well, as I showed earlier. So, it is just a scare tactic to prevent us, the common man, from getting as clever as UMNO.

I hope that addresses your concerns. And now, join us in our effort to make ourselves relevant using our own best resources.

Thank you.

Regards,
Naragan