HINDRAF Chairman P.Waytha Moorthy meets with U.S Congressman Mac Thornberry

12th April 2011. Meeting with congressman Mac Thornberry lasted a good 20 minutes. he was briefed on the Human rights affecting Indians as well as the other 10 million non muslim population. he is keen to raise awareness among congressmen on the gross violation of human rights in Malaysia. Agreed to look on the military exchanges with Malaysia. He is the vice chair on the committee of armed services.
“Rights not Mercy”
P.Waytha Moorthy
HINDRAF Makkal Sakthi

Letter from Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator from Florida on plight of minority Indian in Malaysia

HRP Letter to P.M: latest Education Ministry Directive stops Eight (8) Indian poor children denied Birth Certificates from even attending Tamil Primary school.

No.6, Jalan Abdullah, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur. Tel : 03-2282 5241

Fax : 03-2282 5241 Fax: 03-2282 5245

Website: www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com E-mail: info@humanrightspartymalaysia.com

Your Reply :

In Reply :

Date : 12/4/2011
YAB. Dato Seri Najib Razak,

Prime Minister of Malaysia,

Block Utama Bangunan Perdana Putra, Fax : 03-8888 3444

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,

62502 Putrajaya. E-Mail : najib@pmo.gov.my

Y.B Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

Minister of Education Malaysia,

Pejabat Menteri Pelajaran,

Aras 10, Block E8,

Complex Kerajaan Parcal E, Fax : 03-8889 5846

62604 Putrajaya. E-Mail : khairulam@moe.gov.my

Dear Sirs,

Re : 1) Latest Education Ministry Directive stops Eight (8) Indian poor children denied Birth Certificates from even attending Tamil Primary school.

2) Revoke this racist directive affecting 150,000 Indian poor children nationwide and never heard of anywhere else in the world

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Because of the UMNO led government’s implementation of their racist policies for 54 long years, an estimated 150,000 up to even sixth generation Malaysian born poor Indian children have been made stateless by having been arbitrarily denied their innate right to their Birth Certificates by the racist UMNO National registration Department.

The 523 Tamil school headmasters nationwide were mostly sympathetic took pity and admitted these poor Indian children into their schools. This secured them at least a primary school education. But unlike in the Tamil Primary schools, the almost all Malay muslim secondary school Headmasters deny these children their very basic right to continue with Secondary School education, Skills Training and thereafter Higher and University education.

But in an early 2008 Directive by the then Education Minister, Tamil school headmasters were issued a written directive not to admit these poor Indian children denied birth certificates into their schools.

And today The Star reports the plight eight (8) poor Indian children all from one school alone aged between 7 to 12 years old who were denied their Birth Certificates and were locked out and stopped from entering their Linsun Estate Tamil School Seremban since 24/2/2011 because of the latest directive from the Education Minister. (The Star 12/4/11 at page N 3).

To add insult to injury vide this new directive to the (523) Tamil school Headmasters and Headmistress, they are now ordered to pay a fine of RM 1,000.00 which is to be paid out from their very own pocket for their “offence” in merely facilitating primary school education for poor Indian children as per Section 28 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child provides for compulsory and free education for all children. This was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in November 1989. Malaysia ratified the convention in 1995. Article 2 of the same provides for the child’s right to non discrimination. Article 14 provides for the child’s right to freedom of religion

This is in direct contravention of the pseudo One Malay-sian UMNO government policy announced by the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who had said “Malaysian children without birth

certificates can now attend government-aided schools provided they have a referral from the Social welfare Department (JKM)”. (see The Star Online Friday May 15, 2009). In any event the then Education Minister Hishamuddin had earlier also said that Children who do not have birth certificates can now be enrolled in school/s as long as their parents obtain a confirmation letter from their village headman or the Village Development and Safety Committee (JKKK) head.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said under present regulations, children who do not have birth certificates cannot attend school.

“This is a Cabinet decision and takes effect immediately. These children no longer need to wait for confirmation from the National Registration Department,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting between his ministry and the Plantation and Commodities Ministry.

All school heads have been directed to accept these pupils, he added. (The Star Online 23/2/2008)

But somehow the UMNO Biro Tata Negara racist policies implementation seem to take precedence and which has become the racist and religious supremacist order of the day.

We hereby call upon the Education Minister and the UMNO led government of Malay-sia to forthwith withdraw this racist written directive and allow all these eight (8) poor Indian children to attend school.

Kindly also issue a written directive to allow all the estimated thousands of such poor Indian children nationwide to attend school, skills training, higher education etc.

This is the right thing to do as according to the Child Act it is an offence punishable with at least six (6) months jail for not enrolling their child into primary schools.

We hereby also urge the government of Malay-sia to also forthwith grant Birth Certificates to all the estimated 150,000 such poor Indian children and another estimated 300,000 adult Indian poor denied their innate Identity Cards.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

…………………

P. Uthayakumar

Secretary General (pro tem)

c.c 1) Mr. Kamal Malhotra

UN Resident Coordinator

United Nations Malaysia

Wisma UN, Block C, Kompleks

Pejabat Damansara, Jalan Dungun,

Damansara Heights, Fax No: 603-2095 2870

50490 Kuala Lumpur, . Email: registry.my@undp.org Malaysia

(Kindly treat this as our formal complaint and take the necessary action accordingly).

c.c 2) Ms Navanethem Pillay

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the Nations High Commissioner of

Human Rights (OHCHR)

Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Paquis

CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: +41-22-917-9006

(Kindly treat this as our formal complaint and take the necessary action accordingly).

c.c 3) Mr. Vernon Munoz Villalobos

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education

United Nations Human Rights Council

PO BOX: 1245-1007 San Jose, Costa Rica Fax: (506) 2248-0991

Email: vernormu@yahoo.es

(Kindly treat this as our formal complaint and take the necessary action accordingly).

c.c 4) UNESCO

7 Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP

France. Fax: +33-1-4567-1690

(Kindly treat this as our formal complaint and take the necessary action accordingly).

I would trust HRP over hypocrite politicians of Pakatan anytime (FreeMalaysiaToday)

FMT LETTER

From Susan David, via e-mail

Enough is Enough! I would rather take chance with Hindraf Makkal Sakthi or Human Rights Party but not the hypocrite politicians of the Pakatan.

Fifty-three years of discrimination and marginalisation of the Indian community, and yet the famous Perak Pakatan leader, former Perak Menteri Besar should be embarrassed to say: “I know that not much was done (for the Indian community) during our 11 months rule of the state,” (FMT April 11, 2011).

How much more time do Pakatan leaders need to resolve the Indian dilemma in this country? The question is what has Pakatan done for Indians in Selangor, Kedah and Penang the past three years other than grabbing their cemetery land, denial of land for Tamil schools and demolishing or closure of Hindu temples in all Pakatan states.

But the Chinese working on vegetable farms were given three acres of land immediately by Perak Pakatan and it was proudly announced by Anuar Ibrahim in his speech at Miri on April 8, 2011. The help for Chinese and Malay was done with lightning speed, in about one month of Pakatan Perak taking the reins of the state government.

Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin must resign as politician for failing the Indians and championing the Chinese and Malays. Pakatan Rakyat are even worse than BN for their double standard.

Utusan Malaysia on Jan 1, 2009 reported that “349 Rancangan Perkampungan Tersusun (RPT and 134 New Villages in Perak with 110,000 and 102,000 (60,000) titles respectively are to be given out irrespective of the national land councils orders involving almost all Malay and Chinese owners and land recipients.

The PKR, DAP and PAS Perak state government also allocated 1,000 hectares (about 2,500 acres) of land to nine Chinese schools for them to generate revenue to pay for their operational expenses, said Nizar Jamaluddin (NST 31/8/2008 pp 38).

The schools were urged to form a company to work the land and share the profits among themselves. Nizar also donated RM30,000 for each of the nine schools. But nothing for the Indians!

DAP, PKR and PAS only gave importance to their Chinese and Malay community. As Opposition leader, Anwar never fought for the Indians, only Hindraf Makkal Sakthi will be the champion of the Indians.

Shameful to say that nothing has been done to champion the cause of the Indian poor in these Pakatan ruled states. The Indians were treated like sucked oranges not only by BN but also by Pakatan leaders. Pakatan came to power by using Hindraf and the Indian support.

It is now really shameful that they have had to organise a Pakatan Rakyat Indian leadership dialogue session in Penang on April 2, 2011.

Pakatan Indian leaders pushed for changes especially in intensifying opposition to ‘Interlok’, the appointment of a special Indian aide to menteris besar in three Pakatan-ruled states, and raising the intake of Indians in municipal councils in opposition-held states.

Athi Sankar’s article “Losing Indian support: Pakatan must blame itself” (Feb 16, 2011 ). Jalan Bagan Luar DAP branch head G Asoghan said Pakatan should get rid of its denial syndrome and stop blaming Barisan Nasional (BN).

Pakatan Rakyat should blame itself for the loss of Indian support and not others. Human Rights Party leaders and grassroots Indians have pointed out that during the same short period, Pakatan governments carried out beneficial programmes for the Malays and Chinese.

Lim Guan Eng is another Pakatan hypocrite in Penang and had never granted land to all the Tamil schools and doesn’t look into the Indian problems. He never stood up for the HRP/Hindraf Makkal Sakthi NGO activists when they were arrested by police in Simpang Ampat temple and Farlim, Penang.

If Lim cannot stand up for the HRP activists who were jailed for campaigning against Interlok, I doubt he will ever stand up for Indians in any other issues affecting them.

I quote LGE’s speech summary on the Dec 12, 2007 Video entitled “Guan Eng: Indians Rich? Please prove it”. Clearly Lim Guan Eng claims that Indians are poor and need state assistance to bring them into mainstream development in Malaysia.

He requested BN to seriously look into the plights of marginalised Indians and Malaysians who are sidelined from mainstream development and to take immediate actions to protect them and share the wealth the country.

He also criticised BN government’s propaganda to use Hindraf to prove that Malaysian Indians are not poor, and that the government needs to prove this. He also said that the government must be sincere to discuss the problems instead of labelling Hindraf as terrorists or that it has links with terrorists. Lim also reminded the government should not also come out with statement to revoke citizenship of Malaysian Indians.

Lim and his fiery speech championing the Indian woes is a first class drama and it can be watched onhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLt3QARQ1HA Sunday, March 13, 2011.

What has Pakatan, especially Anwar Ibrahim and DAP’s Lim in Penang, done for the Indians for the past three years: Has he seriously look into the plights of marginalised Indians and made them part of mainstream development, did he help the many Indian families in Seberang Prai and Batu Kawan to obtain citizenship and grant land to Tamil schools in Penang?

Worst still in Kedah and Selangor. I will not trust Pakatan for they have failed in all three states and Anwar is the last person I will ever trust. He is the father of all hypocrites and he would not think twice to wound the hearts of the Indians and Hindus. Once upon a time he had threatened the Hindus by saying “… no temple bells will be sounded in Penang.”

And to make matters worst, as an opposition leader championing the three races in Peninsula Malaysia, he didn’t take a firm stand to defend the Indians struggle towards revoking Interlok. He went on to say “Interlok tiada unsur rasis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ecG88bK-24 (Uploaded by BHonline1) on Jan 11, 2011.

Anwar says “The Interlok is a good novel and there is no racism in it.

(Tiada unsur-unsur penghinaan dalam Interlok)”. But the other Indian Pakatan leaders especially Kulasegaran are against the novel being used in schools nationwide.

Anwar has been always a pain in the neck for Indians and Wong Mun Chee’s article titled “Who and what Anwar is, is still a mystery” is the best written article ever on Anwar (Jan 31, 2011 FMT LETTER. It clearly shows that this Opposition Leader is truly an untrustworthy person.

Wong Mun Chee stressed that Anwar has his days numbered, either he goes behind bars or strikes a deal for a swing in power and in exchange for these blokes to continue with their billionaire lifestyle and fulfill his own agenda to become the PM.

He further said, amongst the three opposition coalition parties, the one that’s a time- bomb seems to be PKR. Why? Same principle, all proxies to ensure Anwarism, no difference from Umnorism style with their allies. Wong Mun Chee gave an outstanding statement in his conclusion.

“The crux of this letter, said Wong, is politicians are never our saviour, but we the people need to be savvy enough to understand and comprehend, with apprehension, the true objective of a politician.

This can only materialise if they are steadfast in their principles from day one, not swaying and swinging for political need no matter how you see it.”

“A good politician serves society without the typical grandeur that we observe with Anwar as and when it fits his personal agenda. Whether I have my doubts about Anwar is secondary but it is your call as members of society to hold the notion of oneness without the typical 1Malaysian and Malaysian first to flush out artificial politicians.”

It is up to the rakyat of Malaysia whether they want to support artificial politicians either in BN or Pakatan – semua 2 x 5 juga. I would rather trust Human Rights Party to help Indians that trusting the artificial politicians of Pakatan. I would rather spoil my vote but will never vote for Pakatan. To Nizar and other Pakatan leaders, please stop the appealing drama. Let your Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, the number one artificial politician appeal for Indian votes.

Racist UMNO AG Gani Patail not ready with documents/evidence but continues to maliciously prosecute to jail for 2 years 20 HINDRAF activists at the Seremban Magistrate Court.

Yesterday morning (11/4/11) all the 20 of the said HINDRAF Seremban car convoy activists had to be present at the Seremban Magistrates Court. All 20 refused to plead guilty. They instead pleaded “Rights not Mercy” Seremban lawyer Kartik and Hana represented all of them.
The 54 HINDRAF activists prosecuted nationwide last month alone is the only one of it’s kind the world over save and except for absolute monarchy Saudi Arabia, there has been no one person ever to have been prosecuted in the whole wide world for being a member of a human rights or minority rights NGO.
Welcome to One Malay-sia.
In One Malay-sia- Semua Boleh!!
S.Jayathas

Video: Memo served to PM marginalization of Malaysian minorities. (see Malaysiakini.com 11/4/2011)

A.G Gani Patail not sure of witnesses but abuses power by racial prosecution and fixing hearing date to fix up and jail Hindraf Secretary P. Ramesh for 3 years.

This morning 11/4/2011 at 9.15 a.m P. Ramesh again had to appear on his second Hindraf racist prosecution at K.L also for having with him Hindraf  Makkal Sakthi banners and posters with the first being in Ipoh also for the same offence being a member of Hindraf, a human and minority rights NGO.

The racist UMNO Attorney General Gani Patail sent his Indian mandore DPP P. Vickneswaran to do the mandorist job to move attention away from the racist UMNO AG and the UMNO regime and to create an Indian vs Indian fight as what UMNO had been doing in the last 54 years.

Lawyer for P. Ramesh, Mr. P. Uthayakumar asked for the list of the prosecution’s List of Witnesses but the Indian DPP mandore said the AG does not have to furnish the same.

P. Uthayakumar retorted in open court that this was the classical case of the Attorney General’s abuse of powers. Uthayakumar asked how the Attorney General can even prosecute when the A.G is not even ready with the List of Witnesses. Uthayakumar told the DPP to convey to the A.G not to abuse his powers., and took the opportunity to bring to the attention of K.L Magistrate Mohd Azali bin Ibrahim that the Hindraf Secretary should not be in the dock in the first place.

But  despite this  the 98% UMNO Malay muslim dominated Magistrates Court and Judiciary fixed for trial the 27th and 28th July 2011 as the Hearing date of this racially profiled, politically motivated and malicious prosecution by the racist bully UMNO AG on the UMNO top leadership orders to stop Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and HRP, to stop us from championing the plight of the Indian poor .

But Hindraf’s and HRP’s Rights not Mercy struggle will continue irrespective of the 3 years jail.
Karunai Nithi @ Compassionate Justice

No Indians, go away!

The Malay Mail

A CLASSIFIED advertisement for the rental of a high-end condominium in Kuala Lumpur appallingly asserts NO INDIANS — throwing up a regrettable case of selective bias.

It was the first time in local English media that I had come across a downright racist advertisement that steered prospective Indian tenants away.

It was not meant for Indian nationals — it applied to any Indian, including me.

I may be accused of overstepping racial lines but the advertisement in a national daily by a Malaysian Chinese lady working and living in Sydney, Australia, takes Indian bashing here to new depths of shame.

The advertisement by the owner, a radiologist, for rental of her apartment suite at Bistari condominium near the PWTC and The Mall explicitly states “No Indians”, something so bold and blunt unseen in the housing ads of newspapers.

Her problem with Indians: curry! She would not have her tenant cooking up a "toxic" cloud of curry fumes that permeates the entire 1,500 sq ft suite.

I asked her property agent: “Are Indians the only ones who cook curry?” “Are Indians the only ones who enjoy curry?" Asked if the advertisement that specified "No Indians" was prejudiced, she said it was a condition by the owner that would be in the tenancy agreement.

There is, however, no legal position on people stirring overpowering and lingering whiffs in apartments. Real estate negotiators and lawyers tell me there is nothing in a contract that can get a tenant evicted for cooking curry.

Clearly, in this case Indians are being treated less favourably than other tenants when we know housing discrimination is unlawful and unacceptable.

If you don’t want an Indian tenant, you don’t have to broadcast it to the whole world. Deal with it privately and sensibly instead of indulging in racial steering.

It’s beyond me why the newspaper published the discriminatory “No Indians” condition when it monitors ads for other reasons, such as obscenity and deceptive advertising.

It cannot argue that monitoring for discriminatory messages was a burden as the practice of racial steering is provocative and bears serious social ramifications.

The right thing to do would be to pass on to regulatory authorities the details of those individuals who post discriminatory ads that excluded prospective tenants on the basis of race, gender, family status, marital status, national origin, and religion.

To evaluate owner-sentiment toward Indian tenants, a Being Frank enquiry was launched over the weekend with visits to six high-end apartment suites in various parts of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

I was the prospective tenant, with "four children" and in all cases, the owners found me, meaning an Indian, a liability: ● One told the agent, who accompanied me, Indians make too much noise and create a mess.

However, when I offered him RM300 extra a month for the RM2,100 apartment, he accepted.

● Another said Indians were known to be quarrelsome “so that won't work out”.

● Three of them said four kids were too many, so “No children”.

● One asked me what car I drove and wanted a letter from my company stating my position and a copy of the monthly pay slip. He obviously didn’t trust this Indian.

The owners of two other apartments I was scheduled to see told their agents not to show the units to Indians. Their contention: Indians are messy, too loud and do not give the apartment complex a good image.

I was astonished and can conclude that fair and equal access to housing is not a cornerstone of our society. Equal access to housing in Malaysia is a fundamental right and this nation should not tolerate discrimination in housing. Few things are more fundamental to success and happiness than having a safe place to live.

The government should actively pursue these concerns with the goal of fairness and equity for all. Admittedly, there are differences in our culture and social practices but such blatant profiling of any ethnicity is destructive to society.

It’s just pure pomposity — conceit that causes human relationships to be lost, self-righteousness that causes the trust to be lost too. There may be good reasons for excluding certain troublesome types or undesirables, but whole scale social exclusion is divisive and is the thin end of a more sinister mindset.

Let us treat this responsibility as an opportunity. A chance to take stock, to ask ourselves: how did it come to this? Is it a material, genetic or self-inflicted deficiency that has led one to ignore co-existing in harmony? The first step to rehabilitation is to recognise you have a problem. 

FRANKIE D'CRUZ is editor-at-large of The Malay Mail. The multiple award-winning journalist can be contacted at frankie@mmail.com.my.

Tackle minorities’ plight, govt told

NGOs submit memo urging the PM to resolve illegal immigrant woes in Sabah and recognise indigenous people's rights over NCR land.

KUALA LUMPUR: Six NGOs representing minorities groups in the nation handed over a memorandum to the government in a bid to compel the government to address their plight.

Among the signatories were Borneo Resources Institute (Brimas), Common Interest Group of Malaysia (CigMa), Hindraf Makkal Sakthi, Indigenous People’s Network of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak Dayak-Iban Association (Sadia) and Sarawak Dayak National Union.

“We had a conference on the marginalisation of minorities in Malaysia earlier this year. We drafted a memo and submitted it to the government. Hopefully, the government will look into the issues,” said Hindraf advisor N Ganesan at a press conference today.

The memorandum was addressed to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and was submitted to his department in Putrajaya this morning.

Also present during the press conference were Cigma president Daniel John Jambun and Indigenous People’s Network of Malaysia’s Yusri Yahut.

One of the issues discussed earlier this year was the urgent need to recognise the indigenous people across the nation as the original inhabitants and also for the establishment of committees under local

councils for the disabled.

Ganesan said that NGOs were now coming together as a collective unit and there was a better prospect of having their voices heard with the larger representation.

“We are expanding our network to include other minority groups for strength in numbers. It is gaining momentum and hopefully it can create changes for the marginalised,” said Ganesan.

Return confiscated land

Daniel John said his NGO highlighted a very important issue plaguing the people of Sabah, which is the influx of a large number of illegal immigrants.

“Sabahans demand the government institute a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate allegations that illegal immigrants in the state are being given MyKad indiscriminately.

“We want justice.We also want the names of those illegals issued MyKads deleted from the electoral list before the general election and brought to book,” said Daniel.

Yusri called on the government to respect indigenous people as the original inhabitants of the land.

“We want the government to respect our history and recognise the customary rights of the indigenous people to their lands.

“In addition, we want the government to return land confiscated from the indigenous people or provide adequate compensation for their losses,” he said.

Interlok: Your God in capital letter, my god in lower case

Written by Iraiputtiran
Commentary

CPI Introduction
In final comments in the open letter addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, on his handling of the Interlok textbook issue, blogger Iraiputirran noted:

“Under your Umno NEP system, many of the professors and PhDs that you produce can hardly write an article for a journal let alone accomplish the task of writing and producing a book. Coming from the same racist system, how could you be any different, Mr Minister?”

These comments are a reminder that the Minister was supported in his decision by an eight-person expert committee consisting of so-called distinguished professors and eminent scholars. Various members of the panel have remained deaf and dumb as theInterlok issue rages around them although one would have expected them to be concerned with enlightening the public and parents of school children as to the reasons for the decisions the panel arrived at.
 
The behaviour of these members of the panel brings to mind the harsh judgments below arrived at of a certain class of academicians:

“The system of journal editing existing in our field at the present time virtually forces academics to become prostitutes: they sell themselves for money (and a good living). Unlike prostitutes who sell their bodies for money, academics sell their soul to conform to the will of others….

For these Malaysian academicians, it appears that the gains are too high for them to buck the system.  Academic perks; rapid rise in the academic hierarchy; professorships, datukships and even Tan Sri-ships: these rewards await them who engage in fawning and sycophantic support of the system however illogical, devious or harmful the policy decisions may be.
************************
Interlok: Your God in capital letter, my god in lower case
By Iraiputtiran


Open letter to Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin

You, Sir, are becoming a complete embarrassment to this country. If Interlok has given anyone an opportunity to prove anything at all, then probably it has given you the best chance to expose your Umno NEP intellectuality.

From the very beginning, the issue with Interlok has been very clear. It was a case of an unsuitable book and wrongly chosen without a thorough analysis. Or otherwise, it was deliberately chosen with the ill-intention of poisoning innocent young minds in schools with the venomous agenda of Umno racism and Umno supremacy.
The book – which Indians were the first to object to (infuriated as they are by the vilification of their community from the demeaning portrayal of Indian characters throughout the novel) – is also being rejected by non-Indians, who have begun to see the inappropriateness of the book as a major public exam material.

Your excuses for rejecting the amendments suggested as ‘minute’, ‘not pertinent’, not sensitive’, ‘non-important things’ , etc. demonstrates your shallow thinking and dearth of knowledge in the areas concerned – linguistics, literature and academic assessment!

You rubbished the suggestion to correct the misspelt word ‘tuhan’ to ‘Tuhan’ as ‘minute’ ‘not pertinent’ and ‘non-important’! Is this sheer stupidity or ignorance beyond help? It is really hard to figure out in those bred by Umno’s NEP.
 
Respecting spelling and scholarship


Accuracy in spelling is a basic requirement in language, literature, and all other disciplines for that matter. Simonsen & Gunther (2001, p. 104) in their research paper, Best Practices in Spelling Instruction: A Research Summary concluded that while often neglected, spelling is an important academic skill for students to learn in school. Masterson & Apel (2010, p. 35) in discussing spelling sensitivity explained that spelling is a language skill supported by several linguistic knowledge sources, including phonemic, orthographic, and morphological knowledges.

Even for students with learning disabilities and dyslexia, different teaching and assessment methodologies are being used to develop their spelling skills.
 
A quick search in the world’s top teaching research journals would reveal hundreds of research work world wide and their findings on developing spelling skills. As Interlok is a compulsory text, it is of utmost importance to ensure that both the examination paper and the reading material are perfect, devoid of any error. Hence the long list of suggestions from the three Indian panel members.

Nevertheless, in an attempt to belittle and vilify the Indians (as Umno stalwarts like you always do), you had actually brushed off those suggestions as ‘minute’ ‘non-important’ and ‘not pertinent’!

In all honesty, this (tuhan) is not merely a misspelt word but rather deliberate and continued act by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka – DBP (baashai/pustakam from Tamil) to promote Islamic bigotry and religious fanaticism. By spelling the word ‘tuhan’ with a lower case ‘t’ whenever it was Maniam or his family members referring to God, in contrast with Seman or his mother referring to God with an upper case ‘T’ for ‘Tuhan’, you and Umno are also telling the Hindus that the Muslim God is the only God and ours is a lower God, a demigod.

If this is not yet another subtle form of Islamisation of the young innocent minds into accepting Islam as the greatest religion, just as what is being done with the History syllabus, then what is it?
 
“Sejak bapanya meninggal dunia, Seman cukup rajin beribadat. Cukup banyak dia meminta doa kepada Tuhan supaya …Dia teringat akan Tuhan … Barangkali ibunya sedang meminta doa kepada Tuhan supaya … Siapa tahu kuasa Tuhan? Barangkali itupun kuasa Tuhan. …Barangkali itupun kuasa Tuhan. Baru kali inilah dia berasa dirinya benar-benar dekat dengan Tuhan. Baru kali inilah dia berasa sembahyangnya diterima oleh Tuhan…(pages 293-294)
Compare this to: Maniam tidak ada anak…Dia percaya suatu masa nanti, tuhan akan memberi kepada mereka cahaya mata. (p. 214)
 
Maniam berasa dia mengenali orang yang bertubuh rendah itu… Ya, tuhanku! Serunya perlahan-lahan. (p. 230)
 
Maniam terus mencangkul… Ya tuhanku! Mengapa aku jadi begini? (p. 244)
Hold your breath and read on…!

Children of lesser gods
Tuhan I: Allah yang mencipta alam semesta…(Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga, m.s. 1478)
tuhan II sesuatu (seperti dewa dsb) yang dipuja oleh golongan manusia yang agama atau kepercayaan mereka tidak berasaskan kepercayaan kepada Tuhan Yg Esa (Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga, m.s. 1478)

Yes, the above Malay national dictionary citations are a deliberate propaganda by DBP that is responsible for publishing both Kamus Dewan and Interlok (student edition) to promote Islam as the greatest religion in the world.

Tuhan can only be Allah, and can never be Jesus, Shiva, Shakti, Buddha, Yahweh, Waheguru, or any other God. All other gods are lower beings than the Islamic Tuhan. Look at how DBP reduces the other gods into ‘sesuatu’, ‘dewa’ dan ‘sebagainya’.
 
In Hinduism, Dewa or Devargal is/are never God(s). What is DBP and Umno trying to indoctrinate in the minds of school children with such an extreme vilification of other religions?

Who gave the right to Umno and DBP to decide whose GOD is higher and whose is not. Such spelling of words has far reaching consequences, which Umno seemed to have capitalized on very well.
 
A research by H.M. Olk (2002, p. 126) titled Translating culture, a think-aloud protocol study, proves that students perceive capitalized nouns as having a higher status, given that in English, all proper nouns have capital letters and that usually means they are important. Going by the same perception, our students too will eventually be made to believe that Islam is the greatest religion in the world. We know Umno’s shrewd mine just too well.

In translation there is a methodology called ‘back translation’. This technique is used to get accuracy in translation of difficult words, including cultural terms. A back translation of the misspelt word ‘tali’ would give an equivalent ‘kayiru’ (rope/string) whereas the translation of the suggested correction ‘taali’ would produce an equivalent ‘maangalyam/ taali/manggala sutra’ (marriage sacred thread). As such, the marriage sacred thread should be spelt ‘taali’ as rightly suggested by the three Indian panelists reviewing Interlok.
 
In the English grammar, the rules of using capital letters are clearly explained. Capital letters are among others used for the first word of a sentence or a fragment, names of days in a week, months in a year, etc., names of languages, nationalities, ethnic groups, proper nouns, festivals and holy days, religious terms including names of religions, names or titles of divine beings, titles of certain important figures, names of important events, names of sacred books, name of a book, a play, a poem, a film, a magazine, a newspaper, etc.

Hence it is simple logic that a special reference to god should be capitalized. Nonetheless, in Malay, only Islamic god is ‘Tuhan’ not any other god. We are tempted to ask you then, will you agree to India referring to your Islamic god as ‘allah’ and their god as ‘Shiva’, ‘Krishna, ‘Rama’, ‘Lakshmi’, ‘Parvathi’, etc? Will you agree to England referring to Muslims as ‘muslims’ or ‘Quran’ as ‘quran’?

MALAYSIA: A COUNTRY HIJACKED BY FASCISTS‏ ; Transforming Indonesian, Thai and Filipino muslims into Bumiputeras to further oppress Indian poor.

The checklist which the regime uses to identify citizens as ‘Malays’ is arbitrary so that not only have the Iskandar Kuttys who came to Malaysia from Kerala, India on board the steamer Mamak Tongkang been transformed into Malays but also the recently arrived immigrants from Indonesia who form the vast majority of citizens classified as ‘Malays.’ The situation has become more confused when Bangladeshis and pure ethnic Chinese ( i.e. those who have found it gainful to convert to Islam) were admitted to the ‘Malay’ fold. All of them enjoy the Bumiputra status (i.e. native son/daughter) which entitles them to range of exclusive privileges denied to the Non ‘Malay’ citizens.

Jurists, historians and anthropologists have said that the term ‘Malay’ as used by the regime has no precise meaning…. Philosopher S Radhakrishnan commenting on J B Watson’s (1878 – 1958) Behaviourism which, by the way G B Shaw called a soulless stupidity said that we can make a god out of glands, if only we set about it. Employing the methods used by the regime I could easily transform a musang (Asian palm civet) or a cockroach into a Malay. If you think my claim is fantastic, then please note that Federal Minister Nazri announced in Parliament recently that 60,000 illegal Muslim immigrants from Thailand were given citizenship papers and converted into Bumiputras. The fellow exhorted us non Muslims to sympathize with the Government for having had to make the difficult decision it made!.

I have already written about Project M a sinister scheme which was devised to render the native peoples of Sabah a minority in their own land. In peninsular Malaysia the Government carried out a campaign to register people who because of some technicality did not or could not apply for citizenship. It was ostensibly done mainly for the benefit of poor Indians but there are among us hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Indonesia without valid papers. These will surely benefit from the exercise and what is more the vote bank of the regime would be considerably increased. Incidentally comparatively few Indians were registered.

The newly arrived immigrants from Indonesia who are called Malays — a word derived from the Tamil malai uur (hill country) — dominate the Armed Forces, Police, the Civil Service and Government Linked Companies. They are also overwhelmingly represented in the public universities. The regime has created many affirmative action schemes exclusively for them with taxes collected mainly from non Malay citizens. It is claimed that their numbers justify such disbursement of funds. But massive corruption and mismanagement at every level of the public sector is so prevalent that ordinary non Malay citizens have not hesitated to call these guzzlers of tax money crooks and robbers .

Meanwhile we non Malays find it extremely difficult to keep pace with inflation. The overwhelmingly Malay dominated public service will not let us build places of worship without imposing all kinds of unreasonable conditions and restrictions. Likewise even publications meant for our own use attract humiliating restrictions. Our bright children cannot obtain scholarships. In an astute move the regime announced last year that the Public Service Department would be limiting scholarships across the board. What it did not say was that ‘Malay’ students could still get scholarships from Government Linked Companies and quangos all of which were set up with taxes paid mainly by non Malay citizens

Some decades ago Mr Lee Kuan Yew observing the abject servility of the MCA leadership called them political serfs. Today the phrase seems applicable to about 98 % of the non Malays. The regime denies us basic religious freedoms, positions in the Armed Forces and Police, our children scholarships and places in the public universities etc etc and yet all we can do is whine like a drugged rabbit.

We must boldly demand our rights and if the regime will grant them we can appeal to the International Court of Justice. The ICJ will be able to tell us if there is any justification for classifying citizens as ‘Malays’ and granting them numerous exclusive rights and privileges..

Letter to Editor.

Islamic-Malay bias in history text books

(Malaysiakini) Historian and writer Ranjit Singh Malhi contended that in his expert opinion, there is an Islamic-Malay centric bias in Malaysian history text books and will not stay silent about it.

"So what, I lose a few million(in book contracts). I will be unpopular. It's all right. Don't sell your soul... Speak the truth and shame the devil," said the historian at a forum organised by the Catholic Teacher's Asociation in Petaling Jaya.

Bemoaning the "lopsided" and "biased" crop of local history textbooks, he lamented some historians do not admit that such things occurred in our history text books.

He quoted a local historian whose statement was published in the Malay Mail on Dec 17 last year dismissing bias in the writing of history text books.

As proof of his claim, Ranjit submitted his own research which has shown that references to other religions were reduced significantly while those to Islam have bloated from 17 percent in the previous form four history text book, to 41 percent in the current one.

Proving perhaps that you can read the book by its cover, Ranjit held up successive versions of history textbooks and how significantly they differed from the early ones compared with the current crop. 

He argued that previous covers included representations of non-Malays as well as civilisations other then Islam, but noted that in the current versions, only Malay leaders and depictions of Islamic civilisation are included.

Ranjit (left) who has written numerous history textbooks for the Malaysian education system said that he had stopped doing so being unable stand the shenanigans he had observed in the way history was selectively written.

"History was distorted. It all started in 1996. Prior to that there no value judgements in history text books. But the form four history text books for example are full of value judgements,"he said.

Value judgements mar text books

He was commenting on recent addendums to such text books which he indicated has prescribed morale judgements on historical events biased in favour of one race and one religion in particular.

At the time when Ranjit said that these "distortions" began, current Premier Najib Razak was the education minister, serving from 1995 to 1996 prior to taking on the mantle of defence minister.

Such practices as putting in value judgements in historical texts said Ranjit go against the principles of good history text.

Good history text books, he said, must be;

• Factually accurate,
• Generally objective,
• Well balanced, and,
• Devoid of value judgements.

However ,he argued that he can prove that history text books nowadays are totally the opposite of such values.

Ranjit listed four faults of our current history textbooks after poring over them word by word. In his expert opinion, the current crop exhibit;

• Islamic-Malay centric bias,
• Some half truths,
• Numerous factual errors and contradictions, and,
• Politically motivated orientation.

'Historical death'

One 'crime' observed the veteran writer, is the intentional 'killing off' of certain important non-Malay historical figures from the pages of official history.

"I call it historical death, you won't find it in books, because it is a term I invented,"he explained in relation to non-Malays and their contributions to Malaysian history he claimed were edited out.

He listed several key figures, crucial to Malaysian history who have been left out of in the modern official re-telling;

• Yap Ah Loy responsible for building early Kuala Lumpur, well acknowledge by world historians, have been reduced to one sentence in Malaysian historical text books,
• Gurchan Singh, the 'Lion of Malaya' who published and distributed an underground newspaper during the Japanese occupation, and,
• Sybil Karthigesu, the nurse who helped treat MPAJA soldiers and did not desist even after the Japanese tortured her.

As for factual errors and half-truths, Ranjit pointed out a few of the more glaring ones, including the omission of the fact that Parameswara was Hindu and died a Hindu and the glossing over and belittling of the contribution of non-Malay troops in the defence, of then Malaya, against the Japanese onslaught.

"This is bulls***t!" he jokingly exclaimed, quickly apologising for swearing in a holy place of worship.

He also pointed out the miraculous appearance of references to Ketuanan Melayu which was not found anywhere in history text books prior to recent events.

The historian also recommended several steps which he believes will help to resolve the matter;

• A review of all history text books to ensure factual accuracy, consistency, objectivity and a balanced account,
• History text writers must have content mastery, good track record and are meticulous,
• History text books must be devoid of value judgements,
• Emphasis on critical thinking and learning as opposed to rote learning and memorisation, and,
• More involving and inclusive history lessons as opposed to traditional lectures.

However, Ranjit clarified that he has no problem with the Malays or Islam in general, but his problem lies with the lopsided depiction of history alone.

The forum about the biased depiction of history in school text books was held at the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya and was well attended by NGO representatives, parishioners and members of the media.

It also featured a commentary on the same issue by SUN editor Terence Fernendez and was moderated by Father Micheal Chua.

Every year SPM top Indian Students denied equal educational opportunities: SPM top students result certificates starts flowing in. Fax us your SPM result slips.

Article 12 of the Federal Constitution provides for equal educational opportunities to all students irrespective of race, religion and place of birth.

However under the racist and bully UMNO regime @ junta it only remains a letter of the law without any compliance to it despite the Federal Constitution the highest law in the country.

Every year top and high achieving Indian students are being denied equal educational opportunities despite their excellent result continues. To add this misery, Saranya Subramaniam who scored 7As and 4b+ in the recent SPM Examinations Science Stream is being denied her constitutional right by the UMNO regime to become a Medical doctor.

In her childhood, Saranya had always dream to become a doctor. She studied hard and produced the results. Had she been a Malay muslim she would have easily qualified for a scholarships and Matriculation to do medicine locally or granted a scholarship to do Medicine in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine etc. But being born a poor Indian is a sin in One Malay-sia. And Saranya’s case is only the tip of the iceberg.

If this result was obtained by Malay Muslim students offers and scholarships will be pouring in and the sky will be the limit. But for Indians it is just the one moment in glory and may be their pictures in the newspapers. But their ambition sooner or later will be buried by the UMNO regime through their racist and bully social engineering.

SPM students who scored 5As and above in the SPM examination and who had been or is likely to be systematically excluded from higher educational opportunities, please fax us your result slip for us to continue championing equal educational opportunities or contact us at 03-22825241.

Proof of racist UMNO bully“ethnic cleansing” of Bukit Jalil Indian plantation village to make way for malay muslim cemetery.

DBKL claims that the land belongs to the state religious department Jawi, but the land office has no record of this.

KUALA LUMPUR: The tussle between Ladang Bukit Jalil residents and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has taken a mysterious turn with the Putrajaya Land office claiming the land did not exist in its records.

Independent observer Chin Choong Men said although DBKL, in its affidavit, said the land belonged to the Federal Territories Islamic Department (Jawi), there was no evidence provided to back this.

“The land office told us there are no documents to prove that someone owns the land as the land itself does not exist in their records,” he told a press conference here.

Also present were Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan, Human Rights Party national coordinator K Balakrishnan and the estate’s action committee secretary S Thiakarajan.

On March 14, the 41 families living in the estate obtained an interim injunction to stop DBKL from demolishing their homes after being slapped with eviction notices on March 1.

The court had set April 27 to hear an inter-parte hearing between both parties and the residents would be represented by Lawyers for Liberty coordinator Fadiah Nadwa Fikri and PKR vice president N Surendran.

Residents classified as squatters

Arutchelvan said that DBKL, in its affidavit, also sought to declare the residents as squatter dwellers and its notices on June 2007 to evict them under the Emergency Ordinance as legal.

“The Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Ministry had already told that these people are former estate workers and that is why compensation is being offered.

“Now their legal team is calling them squatters. So who is lying here?” he asked.

In February, Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin had admitted that the residents were former estate workers after a meeting with them.

Arutchelvan also took a swipe at DBKL for giving more consideration to the dead while trying to evict the residents.

“It is stated in the affidavit that the land belongs to Jawi and it is slated to be turned into a cemetary.

“We are disturbed by the fact that the entire 26-acre land is being alloted to the dead. Is it wrong to set aside a four-acre land for the living?” he asked.

Saying that the affidavit contained false information, Arutchelvan urged Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to intervene and resolve the matter amicably.

Search your soul, Pakatan told

Indian leaders tell the opposition alliance why it is losing the community’s support.

GEORGE TOWN: Indian community leaders in and outside Pakatan Rakyat have called on the opposition coalition to do some soul-searching over its loss of Indian support.

They say Pakatan must question the sincerity of its leaders and the competence of its state administrations in addressing Indian concerns.

Hindraf Makkal Sakti adviser N Ganesan warned that Pakatan would not be able to woo back Indian votes if it continued with what he called “shadow-play” politics, occasionally using officials with “Indian-sounding names” to hand out “peanut funds” for Indian NGOs and Hindu temples.

He said Pakatan had failed to capitalise on its control of several state governments, pushing the Indian working class back to BN “because they prefer the familiar devil to a friend they don’t know”.

A DAP leader in Penang said it was time for Pakatan to carry out “pro-active initiatives” that would bring “real benefits” to the Indian community.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said last weekend’s meeting of the Pakatan Indian leadership was a good start but must be followed up with dialogue sessions involving the coalition’s Indian members and NGO representatives.

The meeting was held in Penang and attended by Pakatan leaders from states with high Indian populations. It was chaired by P Ramasamy, one of Penang’s deputy chief ministers.

He said Pakatan should not wait too long to hold the follow-up sessions in light of speculation about the imminence of the next general election. Pakatan states should use the findings as bases for policies benefitting the Indians, he added.

Another DAP man lamented the Pakatan governments’ failure to form state-level caucuses immediately after the last general election to address Indian-related issues.

G Asoghan, chairman of DAP’s Jalan Bagan Luar branch here, said Indians abandoned BN to vote for Pakatan in the last general election because they thought the opposition parties could resolve long-standing issues affecting their community.

“They are now disappointed that Pakatan governments have failed to carry out any noteworthy policy to help the predominantly poor Indian working class, even in Penang, where there is a deputy chief minister of Indian origin.”

Bad governance

He rebuked Pakatan governments for focusing on building support among Malays and Chinese while neglecting the Indians.

“This is not good governance,” he said.

He belittled last weekend’s meeting, saying that the exclusion of some elected representatives showed a lack of seriousness in addressing Indian concerns.

Absent from the meeting were state assemblymen M Manoharan of Kota Shah Alam, S Sivasubramaniam of Buntong and V Sivakumar of Tronoh. Sivakumar was the Speaker of the Perak State Assembly when Pakatan controlled the state.

Asoghan also spoke of rumours about misappropriation of funds collected by DAP in a 2008 campaign to help Sri Lankan Tamils.

According to one of the rumours, part of the money has been deposited into the account of a London-based Sri Lankan who is under suspicion of funding terrorism.

He said he would write to DAP headquarters for clarification. “Party members have the right to know the status of the fund now.”

Ganesan said the governments of Penang, Kedah and Selangor had committed the same wrongdoings that their BN predecessors were guilty of.

He pointed to the demolition of Kampung Buah Pala in Penang, the destruction of a Hindu burial ground in Kuala Ketil, Kedah, and the closing down of a temple in Bukit Gasing, Selangor.