Where do I start? Okay, how about with the Malaysian Indian suing the British government and trying to get the Queen to provide him with a lawyer because he's too poor to afford one?
Reuters: Malaysian sues Britain over ethnic Indians' woes
Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:59am ET
By Clarence Fernandez
Some fair arguments there. And to bring it back home, the news about the Indians supporting the cause having a rally this Sunday:KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - An ethnic Indian in Malaysia is using an audacious strategy to highlight the plight of his mostly impoverished community by suing Britain, the country's former colonial ruler, for $4 trillion.
The Malaysian government dismisses the case as baseless, but lawyer Waytha Moorthy is determined to pursue it, even vowing to appeal to Britain's Queen Elizabeth to appoint lawyers for the Indian community, which he says is too poor to find its own.
Moorthy wants Britain to pay damages of 1 million sterling ($2.06 million) to each of Malaysia's 2 million ethnic Indians for rights abuses he traces to colonial-era labor schemes that brought their ancestors to Malaysia as indentured workers.
"We are seeking compensation because we were permanently colonized during British rule, and now, under the government of the ethnic Malays," Moorthy told Reuters.
"We have lost touch with our roots and have been suppressed so far," said Moorthy, who accuses British officials of failing to honor their responsibility to protect ethnic Indians when they granted independence to Malaysia in 1957.
In colonial times, many impoverished Indians and Chinese flocked to work and settle in Malaysia, drawn by government schemes meant to attract cheap labor for the country's then lucrative rubber estates and tin mines, he added.
Some might feel that Moorthy, who paid court fees of more than 2,000 pounds to file his case in London's Royal Courts of Justice, has already got a run for his money from the Malaysian newspaper headlines that have trumpeted his story.
But the episode highlights a very real dilemma: after 50 years of independence, ethnic Indians, most of whom are Hindu, own just 1.5 percent of the country's national wealth.
The group, which forms about eight percent of Malaysia's 26 million people, says a decades-old affirmative action plan for the country's Malay Muslim majority has deprived it of opportunities, and the government has done little to improve living standards.
The affirmative action plan, adopted after deadly race riots in 1969, favors politically
dominant Malays in housing, education, businesses, jobs and state contracts.Ethnic Indians say the policy is discriminatory. Poor education further cripples their chances of upward social mobility, forcing them to continue being laborers, although some are now losing out to cheaper foreign workers.
"Indians have suffered under the Muslim-majority Malay government and also during British government rule for the past 200 years," said Moorthy.
His suit also asks the British courts to declare the Malaysian constitution void for not safeguarding the rights of ethnic Indians, and seeks British citizenship for the group.
Moorthy said he was gathering 100,000 signatures for a petition to Queen Elizabeth to appoint lawyers to represent the Indian community, which was too poor to pay its own legal costs, which he estimated would reach a million pounds.
"We only want justice in the United Kingdom courts," he added. "Whatever justice is given to us we will accept."
(Editing by David Fogarty)
2007/11/22
NST: Rally to petition Queen E 'stirring religious sentiments'
PUTRAJAYA: Police will not be issuing a permit for the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally this Sunday.
Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum said judging from text messages being circulated, Hindraf appeared to be playing up sensitive issues which included the demolition of Hindu temples.
"Some of the text messages are overboard and can incite feelings. They are blaming the government, the police and Umno. If a rally is held in such a situation, it can lead to instability," Johari said yesterday.
Hindraf is planning to hold a rally outside the British High Commission in support of a class-action suit against the British government for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured workers, for exploiting them for 150 years, and for failing to protect their rights as a minority in the federal constitution when Malaya's independence was granted. The rally is to petition Queen Elizabeth II for a Queen's Counsel to represent the Indian community in the suit, which was filed on Aug 30 in the United Kingdom.
The sum sought is STG4 trillion (RM27.7 trillion) in compensation for the community from the British government.
Second political secretary to the British High Commissioner Dawn Houghton said they will be ready to receive the petition on Sunday.
"We are aware of their plans. Any demonstration is between Hindraf and the local authorities. There should be someone receiving the petition," she added.
The application for a police permit was rejected by Cheras police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Amir Mohd Hashim who explained that the application had been made by an individual, rather than by the organisation.
Under Section 27 of the Police Act 1967, any application for a permit to assemble in a public place must made by an organisation or jointly by three individuals.
Police have expressed doubt as to the capability of the applicant to control the crowd, which could disrupt traffic as well as law and order.
In response, Hindraf legal adviser P. Uthayakumar described the reason cited by the police as "flimsy", explaining that the organisation is a coalition of NGOs and not a registered body in its own right.
Uthayakumar also argued that the duty to control traffic and to ensure law and order lay with the police, not Hindraf.
"In fact, we have told the police that we will have 100 people helping to organise this peaceful assembly," he said.
Uthayakumar insisted the gathering would go on. It is expected to attract a large group of Indians. The MIC and police have warned the Indian community to stay away from the gathering, which is now deemed illegal.
So, Sunday = rally near the British High Commission, mmkay? Don't say I didn't warn you. In other local news:
2007/11/23
NST: Rela to look after illegal immigrants in depots
"Look after". Right. And now for news that's slightly relevant, but somewhat contentious. As you may recall from my "The Star: Govt: Proton has turned the corner...", the government has recently called off between Volkswagen and Proton. Or did it?PUTRAJAYA: Rela will look after the thousands of illegal immigrants locked up in 14 depots or detention centres nationwide, Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said yesterday.
He said the cabinet had relieved the Prisons Department of its jurisdiction over depots and that the handover would be completed by the end of the year. However, Rela's control over the depots was temporary while the Immigration Department settled its application for new appointments and finished the training of new officers. This will take up to two years.
In the meantime, Radzi said Rela members would work on shifts and would be paid allowances. They would receive training in such areas as policing and handling of riots.
Radzi said Rela members were now manning the detention centres in Sepang and Pasir Gudang and had been doing a good job.
He said it was only logical that jurisdiction of the immigration depots was given to the Home Affairs Ministry as agencies under its purview were the ones that handled the movement of illegal immigrants. Rela, for instance, was carrying out about 40 operations to nab illegal immigrants every night.They have so far picked up 30,332. Speaking at his office yesterday, Radzi also said the cabinet had approved the construction of two more depots -- in Tawau and Sandakan, Sabah -- at the cost of RM26 million.
The government also plans to expand the 11 existing ones, which are very congested, including the one in Semenyih. Radzi said to enhance the image of Rela, the ministry had established the Rela Elite Squad, comprising 177 members, last month. They will receive intensive training, including on policing, identifying foreign and local documentation and the relevant laws. The squad is based in Kuala Lumpur.
"They will be better trained and prepared. They are eloquent in English and understand etiquette and the law better.
"If they are effective, we will set up these elite squads in states which are having problems with illegal immigrants such as Johor and Penang," he said.
Radzi said his ministry would promote the use of the "I-Visa" and "E-Visa" that he hoped would replace the visa on arrival.
The two visa systems, he said, would give the authorities details of each tourist, including his destination, relatives in the country and amount of money carried.
This would make it easier for the Immigration Department to seek out those who overstayed.
A lot of news items (international, of course) detailing the calling off seems to indicate that it wasn't the government's (or Proton's) call. On the one hand, we have Autoblog, which claims that Volkswagen called it off. There's even a little commenting and reply-to-commenting between blogger Sam Abuelsamid and Paul Tan, renowned Malaysian car blogger in the entry:
And yet, after some awesome Googling skillz, it seems that it wasn't just the Malaysians who were reporting that it was VW who was desperate for Proton, and that Proton was the one who called it off:
- paultan.org: Proton-Volkswagen Partnership: no go!
- Malaysia Today: VW drops push for control in Proton talks
- CarAdvice.com.au: Volkswagen and Proton end talks
And then Paul Tan, being the uber-blogging industry insider that he is, gave us a detailed explanation as to why it didn't go through:
There is actually quite a fair bit of information in there which makes it logical for the talks to fall through. Nevertheless, are we going to remain as optimistic as Anonymous? Analysts seem to think not:
It would be nice, though, if they really could turn themselves around.
Quite unfortunately, this whole incident proves that industry protection could, in the long-run, be more detrimental to society than it is beneficial in the short-run. They've been up and running for over 20 years, and didn't take any serious measures to fix themselves up. And then the threat of local competition and less protection comes in, and BAM! they suddenly think they can turn themselves around. *sigh*
And also, another reason that I don't like royalty:
2007/11/23
NST: New palace may cost RM650m
WORKS Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has denied that the cost of the new Istana Negara in Jalan Duta is RM1 billion.
In dismissing the claim by Salahuddin Ayub (Pas-Kubang Kerian), he admitted that construction costs had gone up.
"It is RM650 million and is divided into two components.
"The first is the palace while the second component is extra features to be incorporated into the istana complex." Samy Vellu said the extras included quarters for the palace workers, security system, an underground car park, interchanges to the Istana and earthworks.
Last November, following a ground-breaking by former Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, Samy Vellu had pegged the cost of the new palace at RM400 million. Samy Vellu told the house that several plans were submitted for the istana, located on a 98ha plot, at the time but none had provided for some of the features which the government wanted to incorporate into the complex.
"For example, the underground car park will ensure visitors can park with ease and walk to the palace," he added.
Why? Why do you have to build it there? It's already trafficky enough at times. And also, damn:
2007/11/23
NST: Year-long Ops Sikap from January
By : Minderjeet Kaur
PUTRAJAYA: Ops Sikap, the seasonal traffic operation to check reckless driving, will be implemented all year round from next year.
The RM300 on-the-spot fine for offences such as speeding, weaving dangerously and using emergency lanes will also be imposed on a permanent basis.
Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh said yesterday the decision was made after looking into the effectiveness of Ops Sikap.
"Despite having almost two million cars on the road, the number of fatalities drop during the festive seasons." It is estimated that the average daily road deaths of 17 people nationwide dropped to 13 or 14 people a day during the operations.
This is probably because drivers are more careful as the chances of getting caught for infringements increases from 18 per cent on normal days to 55 per cent during Ops Sikap.
"Since it has worked, the enforcement bodies have decided to carry out Ops Sikap throughout the year."
Suret said year-round operations were possible with the additional manpower in the police force and Road Transport Department.
"Year-round operations were not possible before due to lack of manpower," he said, adding that the operations were a co-ordinated effort between the police, Road Transport Department, Road Safety Department and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research.
Electronic cameras will also be placed at accident-prone areas nationwide. Suret said about 1,500 speed trap cameras would be installed by March and these would be operational round-the-clock.
The cameras will zoom onto the vehicle number plate and a summons will be issued to those found driving recklessly.
"Once this is in place, we might see a reduction in accidents as motorists and motorcyclists know the probability of getting caught is higher." The Ops Sikap includes checking the condition of express buses and drivers before they depart from bus stations. He said Ops Sikap would be intensified during festive seasons such as Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri as the number of cars on the roads was expected to double.
"We will be putting about 5,000 enforcement officers on the road during festive seasons," he said. Other than enforcement, a community-based program- me for housewives, retirees and those in between jobs had also been launched by the Road Safety Department. These strategies are to reduce the present road fatality rate from 6,000 yearly to 2,000.
Suck.
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