CHENNAI, Jan 8 (Bernama) — The banned Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which had distributed pamphlets smearing Malaysia’s image at an international conference attended by thousands of overseas Indians here, was flayed by MIC leaders today. MIC secretary-general and Malaysian 
Human Resource Minister S. Subramaniam said he would raise the Chennai incident in the Cabinet next week, and added that he had also briefed several top Indian leaders about the status of Malaysian Indians during his visit to New Delhi last week.
“I will bring this to the Cabinet. I have also explained to several Indian leaders about the situation in Malaysia. All of them are committed to the good relations with Malaysia. They are aware of the tremendous progress achieved by Malaysian Indians,” Subramaniam told journalists on the sidelines of the 7th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference in Chennai.
Subramaniam met Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayal Ravi last week.
Several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders and Hindraf leader P. Waytha Moorthy are in Chennai to attend the three-day conference which started today in this southern Indian city. Several Hindraf members distributed their annual report to the local media and conference delegates at the Chennai Trade Centre where the meeting is being held.
A few local television stations also interviewed Waytha Moorthy who had flown in from London. It is believed that he does not hold a Malaysian passport anymore.
MIC president S. Samy Vellu described some of Hindraf’s claims as “utter lies” and said the group disseminated incorrect information about the welfare of Malaysian Indians. “That the 150,000 Malaysian Indians of the fourth and fifth generations are stateless is an utter lie. There are only 21,000 without birth certificates, and the Home Ministry has ordered that they be issued the birth certificates.
“Demolition of one temple a day is an old tune which he (Waytha Moorthy) is still singing. If one temple a day (is demolished), it means in the last 25 years there won’t be any Hindu temple,” Samy Vellu told Malaysian journalists.
On the calls by Hindraf to the Indian government to stop bilateral trade with Malaysia, Samy Vellu said the group failed to understand how two nations do business and that Indian leaders were wiser in dealing with such issues.
“We will reply to the Indian government on these utter lies. Indian leaders are very wise and they will not listen to this rubbish. They will go ahead with their arrangements,” he retorted.
About 1,500 Indians from over 50 countries are attending the conference. -Bernama
The Mighty Pen says: How convenient for these MIC leaders to pick out a few minor issues and debate as though they are the actual problems of the Malaysian Indian community. Samy Vellu, it was also wrong for Waytha Moorthy to adorn a blue colour shirt during the conference as yellow is the actual symbolic colour of most Indians. If at all Waytha Moorthy had worn his yellow coloured shirt, the poverty level of the poor and marginalized Indians would have somewhat improved.
To you Subramaniam, what are you trying to prove by bringing this issue to the cabinet. Are you threatening the leaders of the Indian poor? Do not use such type of threats anymore; otherwise it will be much more painful for you this time around, with the existence of this new website. How can you not be called a traitor to this community, with such kind of threats against leaders who championed the cause of the poor?
Let us look at the following statistics compiled by The Mighty Pen from various sources:
“The Indians account for 63% of those arrested under the Emergency ordinance for violent crimes, 41% of beggars and 20% of child abusers in the country.”- Asia week January 26, 2001.
“They (Indians) make up 14% of its juvenile delinquents, 20% of its wife and child beaters and 41% of beggars. They make up less than 5% of successful university applicants” – The Economist 22 February, 2003.
“Only 40% of them (Indians) constitute the middle or upper middle classes. The rest is blue collar labour force. If there is 
one Indian Diaspora experiment that has really failed, it is Malaysia” – A delegate at the Pravasi Bharatia Divas 2008 (Times of India, January 10, 2008).
“Persons of Indian origin, who comprise about 7.8 % of the population in Malaysia have only 4.5 % representation in government jobs” – Asian Age 09 January, 2008.
“At least 10,000 Hindu temples have been demolished in Malaysia since its independence in 1957” – The Pioneer, New Delhi December 9, 2007.
Let us now read some of the words written by this gentleman, god knows whether he is aligned to the MIC and the BN leadership, hopefully he is not, as many of his writing styles have created such doubts.
“Indians own less than 2% of the national wealth” – Baradan Kuppusamy in AT online 19 October 2005.
“Outside an affirmative policy the Government has helped through a quota system under which Indians get 5 to10 % of university places, scholarships and some minimal employment in the civil service. A small elite within the community has used these resources to climb out of poverty, but for most there are no such doors to escape” – Baradan Kuppusamy – AT online 19 October 2005.
All the rest of statistics which concern the marginalized and poor Indians in Malaysia, will be released in this website at a time of our own choosing.
Reaction of the Indian Government
The first to react was the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi who had said on 27 November, 2007 that he was “very much pained” over the treatment meted out to Tamils and that he will take it up with the Prime Minister. The Tamil Nadu MPs on 29 November, 2007 demanded in the parliament, intervention by the Government on behalf of the agitating Tamils in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on 30 November, 2007 that the alleged ill treatment of Indian Diaspora in Malaysia is a “source of concern” for India. External Affairs Minister 
Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha that he would take up the matter with his Malaysian counterpart.
M.Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, declined to meet Samy Vellu, the Malaysian Works Minister, who was in Chennai for 3 days from 30 December 2007, and had reportedly tried frantically to meet Karunanidhi and explain the situation consequent to the HINDRAF rally.
On 2 December, 2007, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi had a meeting with P. Waytha Moorthy of HINDRAF and was briefed on the various types of discrimination and alleged state violence the Indian Community was facing in Malaysia. The Chief Minister while expressing concern had told HINDRAF representative that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The issue came up again during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2008 celebrations at New Delhi from 07 to 09 January, 2008. The reported freeze on Indian workers by a Malaysian cabinet order was also raised. Mr. Samy Vellu, Works Minister for Malaysia who was a special invitee, denied these reports. However, the other Indian expatriates from Malaysia gave vent to their feelings and blamed Samy Vellu for the “serious plight.”
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
The MIC, the leading political party of the ethnic Indians and a constituent of the ruling coalition government since independence, does not have much political clout and has failed to improve the lot of the Indians over these years.
Samy Vellu is the President of MIC since 1979. The MIC is 
more like a one man army and he is running it as his fiefdom. The constitution of the party has been amended suitably to suit his requirements and he has ruthlessly dealt with his Deputy/ Vice Presidents who had tried to unseat him.
It also suits the Malaysian Government to have him at the top as he is very pliable and happy with the Government policies towards Indians as long as he continues to be the sole Indian Minister at the cabinet level. But the people power threw him out from that monopoly he enjoyed at the mercy of the marginalized and poor Indians.
Consequent to this HINDRAF rally, which was a yet another wake-up call for the party, he announced that the party is to be revamped to make it more effective and efficient in meeting the needs of the Indians. A look at the various blogs in the Malaysian websites, in response to this announcement, indicates that the views were almost unanimous in that the revamping should start from the top and that he should step down.
It is a pity that the Indian Government is honouring him and invites him regularly for meetings of the Indian Diaspora, giving little chance or encouragement to other aspiring leaders.
