MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu today asked the government to release the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders under detention, saying two of them should be freed sooner because one was ill and the other was now an elected representative. He said R. Kenghadaran, 40, “is very sick” and M. Manoharan, 46, had won a seat in the March 8 general election. Manoharan had won the Kota Alam Shah state seat in Selangor on a DAP ticket.

Samy Vellu also said that V. Ganabatirau, 34, and K. Vasantha Kumar, 34, had not been very much involved in the massive rally organised by the unregistered Hindraf in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25 last year, which was a reason for the five to be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). The fifth Hindraf leader under detention is P. Uthayakumar.

The MIC president spoke at a news conference after opening a workshop on “Rebranding the MIC” attended by the party’s 150 divisional leaders, here. He said Ganabatirau, and Vasantha Kumar were “not very much involved (in the rally), so the government has to make a decision.”

The MIC supremo also said that his asking the government to release the five Hindraf leaders was not for publicity or a move to win back Indian support for the party, touted to be the largest Indian-based political party in the country.

“This is done in fairness, sympathy and, also, we feel that we as Indians have to do something about it. It is not a publicity stint,” he said.
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The refusal of the Home Minister, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar to release newly-elected Selangor DAP State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah and four other Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasantha Kumar from Internal Security Act (ISA) detention should bring Malaysians back to reality – that the second Abdullah administration has not really heard the voice of the people in the March 8 political tsunami for change towards a more democratic, accountable, just and progressive Malaysian society.

Hamid’s explanation is completely unacceptable. He said: “We cannot simply react to political parties’ calls. We have to give priority to public safety and peace and will give due consideration only if there is no threat to national security.”

This is because the ISA detention of the five Hindraf leaders last December – purportedly linking them with “terrorist organizations” which have proved to be completely baseless - was the result of calls by Barisan Nasional component parties, particularly Umno and MIC, and had nothing whatsoever to do with national security.

Having myself being detained twice for a total of 35 months under the ISA, I can vouch that ISA detentions had been used as political instruments to suppress dissent which have no relationship whatsoever with national security – and the ISA detention of the five Hindraf leaders fall directly under this category!

The first Cabinet meeting last Wednesday created all-round national disappointment as there were no positive indications that the second Abdullah administration would be a reformist one, to fulfill the Prime Minister’s many reform pledges - though four years late.
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Fake? Real? Scary? Funny? Well, whatever it may be, keep it to yourself! I won’t condemn about this video being fake as it might offend some of the religious people out there and at the same time, I won’t be saying that this video is 100% pure as I don’t have any factual evidence to support my statement.

But one thing for sure, this video creeps me off, especially with its ending music! LOL! The ’siddhar’ would be flying like a rocket all of a sudden and people are saying that he flew after seeing ’someone’ recording him. You can see him bending 45º degree to the left before he rocketed!

Anyway, here are some bits and pieces about this video:
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A guy/girl by the name of “Jinx” sent me this clip via email, which was initially in AMR format. I converted it to MP3 format and had uploaded it for you guys to hear this piece of crap. I don’t know any whereabouts of this conversation, whether it was the sender himself/herself speaking in it, whether the origin of this clip is from Malaysia or India, and so forth.

But one thing for sure, it is freaking funny and stupid at the same time! Listen it to yourself by clicking the play button below.

Chennai, March 24 (IANS): Malaysia’s decision to sign a pact with India to protect workers of Indian origin is meant to prevent New Delhi from coming to the aid of Malaysians of Indian origin, a Malaysian activist said Monday.

Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P. Waytha Moorthy alleged here that Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s offer to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India Friday was a diversionary tactic.

“This is meant to nullify India’s efforts to help Malaysians of Indian origin because such an act will alienate workers of other ethnic origins there,” Moorthy said here.

On March 21, the Indian government said it would enter into a MoU with Malaysia to protect the rights of Indian emigrant workers.

Echoing demands made in Kuala Lumpur for the immediate release of five Hindraf activists jailed under the Internal Security Act by the Malaysian government, Moorthy vowed to continue the fight “till the draconian act was abrogated”.
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Thanks to “People Power” for submitting these photos via email

Flash Player is required to view the following slideshow

Friends,

We, a group of concerned Malaysian Indians residing in California, held a rally, at the United Nations Plaza, on March 22, 2008 to mark and protest the 100th day detention of our 5 brothers, Uthayakumar, Manoharan, Kengadharan, Ganabathirau and Vasanthakumar.

The rally was a complete success with about 40 people attending. The participants comprised of people from all walks of life, and included Mr. Samir Kalra, from the Hindu American Foundation, who all came together to show solidarity with our Malaysian Indian brothers and sisters. Ms. Sunita Sohrabji from the India-West newspaper was also at hand to cover our rally.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants of this rally for their kind attendance and enthusiastic support. I also would like to personally thank the Hindu American Foundation and India-West for their strong support of the Malaysian Indian cause. Lastly, I again call upon the Malaysian government to fulfill our five demands immediately.

Thank you,
Bhuvan Govindasamy.

PENANG: People should disregard rumours being circulated via SMS that the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) would be released Monday.

S. Pushpaneela, wife of Hindraf legal adviser M. Manoharan who is one of the five detainees, said the SMS was just a rumour.

“I will only believe it if it comes through the proper channel such as the media.
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Two days after the political tsunami of the March 8 general election, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in an op-ed article in Asian Wall Street Journal (March 11, 2008), entitled “Malaysia will heal her divisions”, pledged:

“As there has been much speculation about the implications of our election results, I wish to offer clarity on three critically important points:

“First, we have heard the voice of our citizens, and I will dedicate myself, in this second term, to healing the divisions which became evident during the campaign. That will mean developing new and concrete initiatives, not just rhetoric, that bring our people together and ensure that no one is left behind as Malaysia prospers, whether they are ethnic Malays, Chinese or Indians.”

Abdullah is right. The Prime Minister’s fatal mistake in his first administration was that his many sweet-sounding pledges which created the feel-good euphoria resulting in his unprecedented landslide victory of over 91 per cent parliamentary seats in the 2004 general election were pure rhetoric but not backed up with any significant or meaningful action.

Is it going to be rhetoric and more rhetoric in his second premiership or is Abdullah going to start implementing his many pledges of reform of the past four years?
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