Sunday, March 07, 2010

PR: Anwar, MB Selangor, Kedah & CM Penang fails Indians


Your yet to be paid debts to the Malaysian Indians

By P.Uthaykumar

It is with deep disappointment that we write this letter to you as the Leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat / Pakatan Rakyat and to the Menteris Besar of
Selangor and Kedah and Chief Minister of Penang.

We had great hopes in the opposition parties when we urged the Malaysian Indians to vote overwhelmingly for the PR coalition in the last General Elections. Now we are two years into your term in the 4 States as the State Governments and we see that you have yet not understood the real aspirations of the Indian poor in the country. Instead, you are resorting to Mandorist Politics.

It was the demolition of the Kampung Jawa temple just prior to Deepavali in 2007 that was the primary cause for the 2007 November 25th Hindraf
eruption. It was that eruption that was primarily responsible for the tsunami that swept you into power in the last General Elections in 5 states and the loss of the two thirds majority for UMNO in Parliament. We do not know if you can understand this, but you are steadily losing out on every one of those gains – the gains of the reins of power of the 5 States, the denial of the two thirds majority, and the People Power support.

We attribute this to leadership without vision. You cannot understand the aspirations of the people who voted you in. You played the traditional
political game of illusions and promises.

You say your inability to address the woes of the Indian poor in this country is due to the fact that you do not yet have the reins of power in Putrajaya and that until you get there you cannot address any of the issues. We disagree with you on this matter. We consider your reasoning to
be nothing but excuses. We believe there are certainly areas that you can address, if you have the vision and the political will. Your actions are
anyway inconsistent with your objective of wanting to get to Putrajaya by the next GE. You simply cannot get to Putrajaya on a load of empty
promises.

You and the DAP and PAS Chief Ministers have complete authority over State land matters. Land issues are by far the most pressing issue as far as the Indian poor are concerned, be it the land on which they squat as urban settlers, or the land on which the Primary Tamil schools sit or the land
on which Hindu Temples sit or land for the Burial Grounds. Yet till today, you have completely ignored this issue in Penang, Kedah and Selangor.

We are expecting a comprehensive and studied approach to the resolution of this major problem, for a start. With the authority you have you can
easily begin a productive exercise to resolve the matter. This is where our disappointment begins. You have not even given the Padang Jawa temple enough thought, the spark that caused the entire tsunami, and that gives us the opportunity for this memorandum, the small land on which it sits. This is also in spite of the fact that it serves a very large Indian community in Kampung Karuppiah, and in spite of the fact that you and your party men made promises just prior to the elections.

In Penang, we had the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco, where you Dato Seri Anwar personally had made promises. In Kedah, we had the Batu Pekaka Burial Ground issue. Now we have the Kamping Lindungan issue here today. These are just the tip of the iceberg, for we know that this problem exists across the country.

We understand that you are not going to be present to meet us at your headquarters when we come to deliver this memorandum to you. That mere fact tells us that you have no intention to solve the problems of the Indian people, now or in the future. All of this is a sample of what we
can expect later should you get to Putrajaya. It is this same arrogance that made the Indians in the country extremely angry with UMNO and which
resulted in their total rejection. We see the same repeating here. Do you really think you can get to Putrajaya with a significant section of Malaysian society in this manner?

One final point – we are not Pro-Barisan Nasional. We definitely want them out. But we also want to see constructive changes resulting if they are
replaced. We would not want to be deluded by just another set of names and faces. We are clear on that point – as they say, the devil you know is
better than the angel you don’t.

We hope you will have a rethink on the matter.

Yours Sincerely



_________________
P.Uthaykumar
Pro-Tem Secretary general
Human Rights Party of Malaysia

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