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DAP’s blueprint for Indians is a copy of Hindraf’s
LRT job that’s messy, shoddy and unfriendly
Manifestos must tackle real issues
Will Pakatan sweep KL clean?
From rags to riches

DAP’s blueprint for Indians is a copy of Hindraf’s

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 04:37 PM PDT

Is DAP's declaration for the Indians just intended to create an illusion of action substituting for real action, asks Hindraf advisor N Ganesan.

By N Ganesan, FMT

I am really sad to see DAP go this way. The so-called Gelang Patah Declaration of DAP is no more than a plagiarised version of Hindraf's 5-year blueprint document.

Eleven out of the 14 items in the DAP document are straight out from Hindraf's blueprint.

The fact that their blueprint was revealed on the 21st day of P Waythamoorthy's hunger strike indicates as though DAP was scurrying to cover its behind against charges of abandoning the cause of the Indian poor.

Not one of the DAP leaders had anything to say for all of 20 days about the endorsement of the Hindraf blueprint – which was the key demand of the hunger strike. On the 21st day –they pull this out of their sleeves, and within 24 hours.

Look at the timing of DAP's declarations and actions for the Indian poor – just days before the elections. What were they doing for all the five years up to now? No action in five years and then now a declaration.

The items in this declaration that could easily have been carried out in the DAP Penang state government in all five years of their rule, but which absolutely were not.

Housing for the marginalised – large and numerous developments in Penang have been approved in the last five years span, but hardly any noticeable effort for the marginalised poor.

Alienate land for temples and burial grounds – land is a state matter, they could easily have done this in the state in these last five years instead of talking about it after five full years after, in their declaration just before the next elections. Did this realisation just come to them or is this their standard modus operandus?

Provide land to Tamil primary schools– similarly with land for the Tamil schools. Worse here. Not only did the DAP government not grant land to the 23 partially aided Tamil schools in the state, requests for land for Tamil schools in Penang coming from the PIBGs were ducked using a variety of techniques, were denied outright or the PIBGs were manipulated to avoid causing embarrassment for the state government with such requests.

So, it raises the question – is this declaration just intended to create an illusion of action substituting for real action?

The double speak game

The DAP leaders made a promise to the Kampung Buah Pala folks in 2008 in Penang and they totally reneged on their promise.

That is a precedent for the value of all their promises. This declaration is put forward as a promise.

I wonder how much commitment there is now to this promise. Whatever they did eventually for the Kampung Buah Pala folks, was because of the pressure that was brought to bear on them, it was not out of any obligations to their promises.

The Pakatan argument against Hindraf's blueprint has always been that it is race-based and not need based.

May I ask "what based" is this Gelang Patah Declaration when 11 out of 14 items in it come from a "race-based" document.

This double speak is so typical of what we have been seeing lately with Pakatan.

If you have been following the story – the first Pakatan Manifesto had zero election pledges addressing the problems of the Indian poor. Then after an uproar from the people, they included five items into the revised manifesto (the additional items also came from the Hindraf blueprint).

Then seeing that this was not cutting it enough, now the number of items taken up has gone up to 11.

In 2008 Pakatan hijacked the Hindraf rallying cry 'Makkal Sakthi'. In 2013 they are now attempting to hijack Hindraf's blueprint. It is shameful.

Is this all the intellectual capability the DAP can muster? Is copying the best they can do? It is so shameful for a national party to plagiarise. How much commitment can there be in any effort like this.

We are wondering why this Gelang Patah Declaration did not extend to include the most impactful intervention such as a Felda type of land allocated contract farming proposal. Why was this not copied out as well from Hindraf's blueprint?

DAP supremo Karpal Singh on March 30 called out to Anwar Ibrahim to endorse Hindraf's blueprint. The next day, his son Gobind Singh is in Gelang Patah beside Lim Kit Siang launching this DAP blueprint. What circus is this?

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 01:19 PM PDT

Despite public complaints, work on the LRT extension in the Klang Valley is proceeding with scant regard for safety.

Syed Nadzri, FMT

Our worst fears about the way the construction of the light rapid transit (LRT) extension in the Klang Valley is going on came true last Friday when a motorist was crushed to death by a falling beam.

A Vijayaingam was passing through the construction site on the road leading to Subang Airport when building equipment being hoisted by a crane gave way and fell on his car.

Another car was also badly hit by the falling beams causing its driver to be seriously injured.

Whether the accident could have been averted or whether there had been breach of duty of care is for the courts and the legal experts to decide. But work on the project has been shoddy.

The contractor, according to news reports, has been suspended by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, which is undertaking the extension work on behalf of the government.

But what is most worrying to the ordinary folk is the utterly messy work that has been going on, with almost complete disregard to the convenience of others. You hear the complaints every day.

A few days ago, the concrete fencing of a house in SS18, not far from where construction was going on in full swing, collapsed as a result of the vibration of the drilling.

And just hours before last Friday's most unfortunate incident, another lament was heard – from no less than a person about to perform Friday prayers. So do take note, contractor and the authorities.

The person was furious that the contractor, in carrying out his job, had completely sealed off the middle span of Persiaran Jengka, denying pedestrians to cross the street from SS17 to get to Masjid Darul Ehsan in SS15.

He was not alone of course in expressing disgust.

Manifestos must tackle real issues

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 12:19 PM PDT

Focusing on the people's immediate wants and bypassing national issues reflect the BN leadership's lack of vision, wisdom and capabilities.

Awang Abdillah, FMT

A manifesto is a package of offers that a political party promises to deliver if chosen to be the next government.

If the party is elected, then the manifesto should become its action blueprint for the next five years.

We have seen past Barisan Nasional manifestos which made all sorts of promises, but little attention was paid to the nation's real problems.

Take, for instance, the BN's manifesto for the 2008 general election. It promised all kinds of goods and services but failed to win the hearts and minds of the voters and this was visible when it lost its traditional two-thirds majority and five states to Pakatan Rakyat.

Focusing on the people's immediate wants and bypassing national issues reflect the BN leadership's lack of vision, wisdom and capabilities.

The 2008 BN manifesto, while setting the feel-good mood among the voters, did not guarantee BN votes.

The people are now mature enough not to buy lies and stories.

Since taking over the helm of the government in 2009, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has failed to implement the plans and programmes spelt out in BN's 2008 election manifesto.

His best shot now is to dish out instant goodies to the people to get their votes.

His government claims that the ETP (Economic Transformation Programme) and the GTP (Government Transformation Programme) are on track to propel Malaysia to becoming a high-income /developed nation by 2020.

But what have these programmes achieved in relation to the national issues?

Manifesto must include real issues

A true manifesto is one that spells out the current real national issues and measures to tackle them.

Secondly, it must be a manifesto committed to delivering the essential goods and services to all races, and thirdly, to dish out the (instant) goodies to the people subject to the funds available.

The manifesto must focus on the national issues such as the national debt, corruption, floods, security, poverty, oil royalty, development of infrastructure especially highways and roads in Sarawak and Sabah and cost of living.

If these major ills can be tackled, both Pakatan Rakyat and BN need not worry about how much goodies they dish out.

Will Pakatan sweep KL clean?

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 12:16 PM PDT

There are obstacles against the opposition pact's determination to improve on its 2008 performance.

Stanley Koh, FMT

Few political observers doubt that most of the 11 parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur will go to Pakatan Rakyat in the coming election.

But will the opposition pact do better than it did in 2008 and make a clean sweep? Some would say "Yes", considering the general perception that urban voters have become more anti-Barisan Nasional than they were when the last election was held.

Furthermore, Pakatan needs only to capture one more seat – Setiawangsa – to make it a clean sweep.

Seasoned observers are not so sure. They say there are obstacles standing in the way of Pakatan realising this particular dream, the most onerous being BN's ability, through its collaboration with the Election Commission, to manipulate postal voting.

Indeed, the reason most often given for Pakatan's 2008 defeat in Setiawangsa is that postal ballots account for a large share of the votes in the constituency. According to 2012 figures, they number 12,432 out of 49,958 votes.

Other Kuala Lumpur constituencies with postal votes exceeding 5,000 are Segambut (6,517), Bukit Bintang (5,284) and Bandar Tun Razak (5,175). Batu and Wangsa Maju have 3,400 and 3,220 respectively.

Secondly, according to Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai of DAP, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and other authorities tend to sideline Pakatan representatives in consultations regarding the social and economic development of the city.

"Our elected representatives have been marginalised and kept in the dark on infrastructure development in Kuala Lumpur, including the budgetary planning involved," he complained.

He said these authorities were effectively denying the Pakatan MPs the right to represent their constituents.

"Opposition MPs are only accorded a token representation and are denied opportunities of effective representation by both DBKL and the Federal Territory Ministry."

Nevertheless, Tan added, there were encouraging signs from the electorate that inspire the opposition to push hard.

"We are encouraged by the fact that urban voters are now more IT-savvy, more aware than their counterparts in the rural and semi-urban constituencies," he said.

"This is particularly true in areas where the Chinese form the majority of voters, notably Kepong, Seputeh and Cheras.

"But since 2008, the opposition has also made great inroads among urban Malay voters, especially the younger ones.

"I believe the voting trend is continuously changing in the opposition's favour although it is still an uphill task in the coming election.

"KL urbanites are more politically savvy now. They want greater changes in the political landscape. Many want a stronger two-party system. I think the changing political consciousness among the urban Malays is a positive sign."

From rags to riches

Posted: 01 Apr 2013 12:11 PM PDT

THERE is a wide spread belief in this country that many crimes are committed by people of Indian ethnicity. I have been asked this question and it often goes like this, "why are so many Indians involved in crime uh?"

Selvi Gopal, fz.com

Well, I don't really have police statistics on hand or even trust it to give an adequate answer to that question but Hindraf, or Hindu Rights Action Force, has indicated that crime has indeed become a local Indian problem.

According to statistics provided by Hindraf, which was reported by New Delhi based think tank Observer Research Foundation, about 50% of all convicts in prison in 2004 and 41% of beggars in the country were Indians; and 15% of juvenile delinquents are Indians.

They also reported that the percentage of Indian civil servants fell from 40% in 1957 to less than 2% in 2005.

Interesting, the percentage drop in jobs in the civil service is made up by the percentage increase in crime rate.

Anyone who reads the newspapers on a regular basis would know that the crimes committed by members of the local Indian community are visible crimes; the obvious gang related violent crimes, the robberies and burglaries and crimes perpetuated within the community.

But what is often overlooked by those quick to point the finger at this community are the unseen crimes. The crimes committed by the loan sharks, the drug dealers, the vice groups and the human traffickers who force women and children to commit sex crimes.

And let's not forget about white collar crimes committed by corporate figures who rob shareholders and taxpayers through share manipulations and kickbacks.

And then there are industrial zones that are unused and feedlot companies that get such large loans that they don't know what to do all that money so the end up buying luxury cars and condos.

Crime is often associated with the poor and disenfranchised but rarely with the rich and powerful.

Crimes committed by some Indian Malaysians follows a well established path that's paved in poverty and discrimination.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Selasa, 2 April 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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