QABIL Ambak Mahamad Fathil and younger sister Quzandria Nur (pic) proved to be a  class above the rest as they gave Malaysia a 1-2 finish in the individual dressage  competition at the Horseshoe Point and Thai Polo Club in Pattaya yesterday.

Qabil, on Dexter, took the gold medal with a score of 70.150 while Quzandria, who  rode Lewes, clinched the silver on 67.250. Thailand’s Chalermcharn Yotviriyapanit,  on Waldzauber, finished third on 66.200.

It was Qabil’s second gold medal of the Games after he helped Malaysia win the  dressage team gold on Friday.

It was the second double for Qabil in the biennial Games after the Kuala Lumpur  edition in 2001.

“I am delighted to have contributed another gold medal for the country in a major  competition,” said Qabil.

“Dexter is my new horse. I only had him for a couple of months at my training base  in Anaheim (Holland). But we have managed to get along well in such a short time.

“Initially in the SEA Games, we committed a few errors but as the competition wore  on, we just got better.”

In the team competition, Qabil posted the second best score behind team-mate Putri  Alia Soraya Ahmad Shuhaimi. But in Saturday’s qualifying session for the individual  final, Qabil came out tops.

“We combined very well together again in the final with only minimal mistakes for a  comfortable victory,” said Qabil.

However, Qabil has to put his celebrations on hold as he has to change his mindset  quickly to compete in the show jumping event, which starts today.

Besides Qabil, the other Malaysians for the show jumping event are his elder  brother, Quzier, Syazna Leena Zulhasnan and Syed Omar Almohdzar.

“It’s going to require a quick switch in riding style but it’s just something I just  have to do,” said Qabil who is the defending champion for the individual  competition.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp? file=/2007/12/10/sports/19716283&sec=sports

THE exploits of Malaysian swimmer Daniel Bego get better and better.

He pulled off a stunning victory in the men’s 100m butterfly at the Aquatics Centre of the Korat Sports Complex last night and in the process became the first Malaysian swimmer to qualify for three events in the Olympics.

The 18-year-old won the race from the outside lane in 54.33, leaving United States-trained James Walsh of the Philippines in his wake f or silver in 55.47.

Another foreign trained swimmer, Andy Wibowo of Indonesia, took bronze in 55.59.

Daniel, who just completed his SPM examinations before flying off to Korat, not only smashed his own national record of 54.40 set at the World Youth Championships in Brazil last year but also demolished the four-year-old SEA Games record of 55.04 held by Lim Keng Liat.

While Daniel was able to retain the 100m butterfly title, securing an Olympic spot in Beijing in the event must have meant more to him.

The Sarawakian had qualified for the 200m butterfly and 200m freestyle in an international meet in Japan in August.

As the slowest qualifier for the 100m butterfly final yesterday with a time of 57.28, Daniel had to swim in Lane 1.

But he saved his best for last and finished nearly one body length ahead of Walsh.

“I did not want to go all out in the morning because I was determined to hold on to this gold,” said Daniel, who also swam in the men’s 400m freestyle heats but did not make the final.

“I was pacing myself in the 100m butterfly and it was quite risky. I would not have made it if I had been a second slower.

“For the final, I told myself that I did not want to repeat this and I just went all out.”

Daniel’s performance was least expected, considering he was not in the best of shape going into the competition. He settled for the silver in the men’s 100m freestyle on Saturday.

Coach Gavin Urquhart said: “He had not been training as much as the others because of his exams. Making it worse was the fever after arriving here. But to me, he is a Ferrari and since Daniel has a day’s rest today, he should be fresh in his bid to end the competition on a high.”

Daniel is down to defend his 200m freestyle title and will attempt to better his previous haul in Manila by winning the 200m butterfly as well.

“I will just take whatever that comes first,” added Daniel.

Earlier, Malaysia’s Kevin Yeap led the field for the first 300m in the men’s 400m freestyle. However, the youngster ran out of steam and finished sixth in 4:04.60.

In the men’s 100m backstroke, Malaysia’s Linvern Lim and Eric Chang finished fifth (1:00.09) and sixth (1:01.02) respectively.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/
2007/12/10/sports/19716373&sec=sports

DEBUTANT Chai Fong Ying strut her way into the history books as the first Malaysian female wushu exponent to win a gold medal in the SEA Games at the Chanapolkhan Institute of Technology in Korat yesterday.

Fong Ying was confirmed as the winner of the taijiquan and taijijian all-round competition after dishing out a graceful performance in the taijijian (swordplay) to earn 9.55 points, taking her total to 19.18.

Another Malaysian, Ng Shin Yii, claimed the silver. Shin Yii scored 9.53 for a total of 19.09. Filipino Janice Hung took the bronze on 18.77.

The success for Fong Ying yesterday makes her the only Malaysian wushu exponent to hold the Asian Games, World Championships and SEA Games titles at the same time.

While Fong Ying made it look effortless, everything she has achieved came through personal sacrifices.

“I have taken two semesters off studies because of my preparations since the Asian Games last year,” said the 21-year-old Universiti Putra Malaysia student.

“My colleagues in the same batch have finished their studies but I guess this is what I love doing and good at it.”

National coach Yoong Thong Foong said they were looking forward to a bonus gold medal today.

The best bet is on the women’s nanquan all-round competition, which ends with the nangun (stick) routine.

Tai Cheau Xuen is the joint leader with Vu Thuy Linh of Vietnam after the completion of two routines with a total of 18.70.

Cheau Xuen scored 9.39 for the nandao (broadsword) yesterday while the Vietnamese exponent fared better with a 9.43.

Diana Bong is also in the running for the gold medal. She is just 0.1 point behind the joint leaders. Diana posted 9.42 in nandao to take her total to 18.69.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/
2007/12/10/sports/19714628&sec=sports

Last year, the Indian High Commission in Guyana published an advert in a local newspaper offering scholarships to ‘Children of the Diaspora’. An angry reader wrote in that the Indian government should surely know that while assistance to Guyana was welcome it should be on non-discriminatory grounds, regardless of ethnic origin. The spark ignited by so innocuous an offer of help illustrates how combustible is the race vs nation debate. Most recently, India was delivered a stinging slap in the face when it spoke up on behalf of the 1.8 million-strong ethnic Indian population in Malaysia and was told to Lay Off.

India has the third largest Diaspora in the world after Britain and China. These two countries have never fought shy of taking up cudgels on behalf of their scattered brood. When Indonesia under Suharto banned public displays of Chinese culture and asked its Chinese population to change their names to Indonesian ones to get citizenship, China broke off diplomatic ties for years. “The English too take care of their own across the globe, including in Australia,” says Jamia Millia vice-chancellor Mushirul Hasan. “India has taken the correct stand on Malaysia. Persons of Indian origin are culturally bound to us. We cannot wash our hands of them simply because they do not have Indian passports.”

In the past, too, India has spoken up–when Mahendra Chowdhary was deposed as prime minister in Fiji in 2000, New Delhi expressed its concern. But, equally, it has always worried about crossing the thin red line from concern to interference. A dithering that angers the Indian Malay. “If India does not protest against the unfair treatment of Malaysians of Indian origin do you expect Mongolia and China to do so on our behalf?” asks an indignant P Uthayakumar, legal adviser to the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) which is leading the movement. “For God’s sake, we in Malaysia have the closest links with India. If a wife is unfairly treated by her husband, she can only go to her parents. India must intervene because human rights have no boundaries.”

G Parthasarthy, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan points out that whenever there has been a massive violation of human rights of Indians, such as in Fiji, the Indian government has taken cognisance. “This has been our policy since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru,” he says. “The problem is that if we start making statements other countries can do so too when there are communal riots here. Therefore, we have to be objective.”

India’s early Diaspora has its roots in colonial oppression. In the 19th century, boatloads of indentured labour were forcibly transported to work on the rubber plantations of Malay. Today, the descendants of the boat people may not be watering rubber fields but their lot is still very much that of the marginalised migrant, they claim. Since its independence in 1957, Malaysia has powered ahead and is often held up as the exemplar of Muslim development. But for the Indians who make up a little less than 10 per cent of the population, prosperity has stayed stubbornly out of bounds.

Hindraf says that the job reservations for ethnic Malays effectively cut the Indians out leaving them to be “labourers, industrial workers, office boys, sweepers, beggars and squatters”. The only index on which ethnic Indians lead is suicides. The crime rate of the group is also shockingly high. The Tamil schools are largely dysfunctional. “The conduct of the Malaysian authorities has been particularly offensive,” says India’s former external affairs minister, Yeshwant Sinha. “Even the country’s official history starts with the 14th century after the last Hindu king converted to Islam. They want to obliterate their past.”

On November 25, nearly 8,000 Malaysians of Indian origin gathered in the shadow of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Towers to demand equality. Instead they were brutally beaten with batons, bombed with tear gas and flung into jail. An anguished Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi wrote to Manmohan Singh urging him to intervene diplomatically. He did. Malaysia reacted swiftly. “This is Malaysia. We’ll deal with our problems and issues according to our laws. Other countries should be mindful of our rights,” said Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia’s foreign minister.

“I can turn around and ask, what business was it of Malaysia’s to protest the Babri Masjid demolition or even the Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed,” rebuts Dr Subramanian Swamy, known for his efforts to improve Indo-Chinese relations in the Eighties. “Malaysia should be the last country to tell India to lay off.”

Those who advocate caution say that India cannot take on the burdens of its Diaspora, and that fighting for Malaysians of Indian origin will only open a Pandora’s box. After all, there are millions of Indians in Fiji, South Africa, and the Caribbean Islands. Others say that since India is quick to tom-tom the achievements of its Diaspora–V S Naipaul, Bobby Jindal, Sunita Williams –it should also look out for them. Moreover, since they are victims of colonialism, the government owes them the support of the mother country, says Ormila Bhoopaul, an activist lawyer of Indian origin from Guyana, who now lives in Canada. “What first needs to be acknowledged is that these PIOs were forced to leave, they were tricked into going by the British,” she says. “Why didn’t they all return? The reasons are many and when examined, they are not to be blamed for not returning. And the British must take some responsibility too.”

Hindraf still hopes that old blood ties will move the mother country. “Every few weeks a temple is being razed. Last year, 79 temples were demolished or faced legal action,” says Uthayakumar. “We are grateful that India has expressed concern. We hope now for more concrete action. India is a growing power. Malaysia is bound to listen.”

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Malaysia_not_truly_Asia/
articleshow/2607764.cms

The rest of the world knows us from that great tourism tagline, ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’. So why haven’t we truly embraced it ourselves?

CULTURE CUL DE SAC
By JACQUELINE PEREIRA

IT was a blazing hot day. I passed a truck parked by the roadside, and watched two busy cendol-men doling out ice-cold bowls to sweaty, thirsty people impatiently gathering around the truck. I was tempted, too.

After I had ordered a special with pulut, I watched as one of the two Indian men – the older one with short greying hair and a kindly face – pull up a stool near my table and begin to wash the growing pile of used bowls. His fingers were gnarled and, from the perspiration pouring down his face, you could see that he was well and truly wilting in the heat. Yet he diligently continued with his task of fulfilling his customers’ demands, without a moment’s respite.

Then a thought crossed my mind. Could he have been one of the thousands that gathered at the Hindraf rally, the peaceful demonstration-that-turned-violent? And rocked our nation once again. He was an Indian man, so I could not help but wonder…. I’m certain many Malaysians, after Nov 25, have looked at Indians from that day onwards with the same thought. That Sunday could be named, if one is in the mood for jokes, “The Day They Began to Watch the Indians”.

For years I have ardently avoided stereotypes: whether of gender, race or religion. Though they influence who we are, a person is surely so much more than a mere convenient categorisation. But you know the drill in our country. Every festival, the feel-good advertisements flood the print and TV media. A return to nostalgia is in order to whip up unity, and the three races are filmed living in picture-perfect frames. Every August, a row of pretty Malay, Chinese and Indian girls front magazine covers, putting forward a version of unity that most people consciously don’t feel or think about any more – if they ever did.

Much as the choice is ours to switch to another channel or pick up another magazine, the inescapable official tick boxes (and sometimes unofficial) never fail to remind us once of who we are in terms of race, religion, and gender.

Even after 50 years of nation building, much as we loathe to admit it, this country’s citizens remain divided. All well-meaning efforts to integrate seem to have reached an impasse. From a common binding language to an outfit that best represents our nation, we still can’t agree on a commonality that will bind us as one.

Once a young scion of a revered Italian fashion house, just before the brand’s fashion show in Florence, picked me out of a group of journalists and enquired, ever so politely, if I was from India. When I said I was from Malaysia, he burst into a spirited “Malaysia, Truly Asia”.

In my last column, I shared the journey of a 30-year-old friendship. I did not think it was necessary to mention my friend’s race, but she is not Indian. Browsing through quirky shops in one of Cochin’s atmospheric alleys, a fabric shop proprietor had this to say, when we divulged that we were from Malaysia: “Wow! You two are truly Asia.”

So, we have got a great tagline. Known around the world, and embedded in everyone’s mind – almost – when they think of Malaysia. Whether it is inadvertently or by design, I think it is the most honest appraisal of Malaysia. We are a nation made up of Asians. We are three very distinctive races living in one country. But, in the same way that the British and the Americans are separated by a “common” language, as they say, we are segregated by a “common” culture.

Perhaps what is required is to finally let go of our race and religious hang-ups, and genuinely celebrate our unity in diversity. We are, after all, Truly Asia. The tagline readily trips off the traveller’s tongue, so perhaps we Malaysians should finally embrace it, too.

I have always thought of myself as more Malaysian than Indian. My tastes vary and I readily delve into books, movies and music from around the world. Sure, I like my glittery saris, jasmine flowers and spicy curries. But I have never thought my race was a crucial part of my make-up.

But recent events, even if they were not meant to, have brought something else into focus – what it means to be an Indian in Malaysia (if you’re Indian) and how you see an Indian (if you’re not).

# People, places and perceptions inspire writer Jacqueline Pereira. In this column, she rummages through cultural differences and revels in discovering similarities.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/
2007/12/9/lifefocus/19694609&sec=lifefocus

NEW DELHI: India has cold-shouldered the Hindu Rights Action Force by refusing to meet its leader P. Waytha Moorthy.
Indo-Asian News Service said Waytha Moorthy had to leave India without meeting any minister or official.

“There was no meeting with anybody from the External Affairs Ministry or anybody from the government,” an official source said.

Waytha Moorthy was in India before he headed to Geneva and Washington to drum up support from the international community on his claims that Indians in Malaysia were being ill-treated.

He only met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, who promised to lobby the Indian government to take up the issue.

he report said the Indian government has become more cautious after accusations by Malaysian authorities that Hindraf was linked to Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation that is banned in India and other countries.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when asked by journalists whether the Indian government was planning to take up the issue of the alleged link with LTTE, said on Friday: “A terrorist is a terrorist. He has no religion and his origins do not matter.”

Mukherjee said there were international conventions that governed how the issue of terrorism was tackled, and every government was committed to supporting it.

Mukherjee told the Indian Parliament last week: “We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter.”

The minister stressed that the people of Indian origin in Malaysia are citizens of that country.

Waytha Moorthy had told the Times of India that the Indian bureaucracy made it difficult to meet the leadership.

He said he was looking for Indian support and India to pressure Malaysia to give them a better deal.

The newspaper said India was not going to give the protesting Malaysians more traction.

“This is clear from the recent actions of the government that they consider the protests to be part of an internal matter of Malaysia, because these were all Malaysian citizens.

“India will not place its relations with Malaysia on the line for them. This is a clear message. So even though there will be expressions of support for the protesters, the government will not be seen to be backing any group that might have sympathies with the LTTE.

“This will complicate its relations, not merely with Malaysia and Sri Lanka, but could prove to be a legal hot potato because LTTE is banned in India,” the newspaper said.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/
Frontpage/20071209142956/Article/index_html

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC president quoted hard figures yesterday to show that contrary to what Hindraf says, the Indian community is doing well.
Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said that close to 12 per cent of the working Indian population are professionals or are in managerial positions. And many more could join them, as 2,447 Indians have enrolled in public universities this year.

Samy Vellu was responding to questions on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), and its allegations that Indians in the country were facing ethnic cleansing, after the opening of the International Convention of Nagarathars.

Some 650 Chettiars are attending the three-day conference.

Pressed to comment on whether he had made any effort towards a dialogue with the Hindraf leaders, Samy Vellu said: “I attempted on a few occasions to ask them to sit down and talk with us, but they do not want to. They have an agenda that is only known to them.”
Samy Vellu said that Malaysian Indians could gauge for themselves how far they have come with the support of the government.

He added that the Indian students who got placements in local universities this year represent six per cent of the 40,116 students who were enrolled this year.

Currently, Indians make up about eight per cent of the population.

And of the 847,900 Indians in the workforce, 46,054, or 5.12 per cent, are in the civil service. The unemployment rate among Indians is at 3.1 per cent. The national average is about 3.4 per cent.

“We are also getting some help from the government for the AIMST Medical College in Sungai Petani. Many schools have been built for the community and funds are continuously allocated to upgrade the older schools,” he said.

He added that the government’s commitment to the Indian community is clear from the fact that under the microcredit scheme RM40 million has been budgeted for loans to Indians.

“The aim is to create at least 5,000 Indian small businessmen under the Ninth Malaysia Plan,” he said, adding that many squatter families are now housed in government flats.

He explained that the decision was made to rent out the units for five to six years, rather than sell them immediately to the occupants, to prevent those eligible for the homes selling for a quick gain. After that, a decision will be made as to whether the occupants can buy the unit.

Commenting on the convention, he said Malaysians could learn a lot about entrepreneurship from the Chettiar community, as they are known to be business savvy.

The chairman of the Law Commission of India Dr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Ashok Kantha also attended the opening of the convention.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/
Sunday/National/20071209151959/Article/index_html

Malaysia’s industrial production grew at the fastest pace in 10 months in October as rising exports and domestic demand boosted manufacturing and electricity output.

Overall production at factories, utilities and mines increased 4.7 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from a revised 3.1 percent gain in September, the Putrajaya-based Statistics Department said in a statement Friday. Economists were expecting a 5 percent increase.

“The export figure was pretty encouraging,” said Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore. “There also are signs the economy is picking up. Consumption investment remains pretty strong. It looks like the economy is weathering the threat of a U.S. slowdown pretty well.”

Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy expanded 6.7 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in three years, after the government raised spending and cut corporate tax to bolster consumption and investment. Malaysia is also counting on commodities and other shipments to Asian economies such as China to drive growth amid weaker electronics sales to the U.S.

China’s appetite for Asian exports has helped the region’s economies withstand a slowdown in the U.S., where the worst housing recession since 1991 is crimping demand.

Chinese demand

Malaysia’s exports expanded 14.3 percent in October as sales of palm oil and chemicals to China made up for a 12 percent drop in shipments to the U.S. Sales of electrical and electronics goods, which made up 43 percent of total exports in October, grew just 0.4 percent, the first increase in at least nine months.

Factory output by companies including Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd. and Unisem (M) Bhd. grew 4.6 percent in October, the biggest gain since December 2006.

Manufacturing accounts for more than 30 percent of Malaysia’s $149 billion economy, and manufactured goods make up almost four-fifths of the country’s overseas sales.

Higher manufacturing output was led by increased production of office and computing machinery and electronic valves and other components, the statistics department said.

Mining increased 3.8 percent, while electricity production gained 7.4 percent, the biggest increase in nine months.

Production rose 1.9 percent in the first 10 months of 2007 from a year earlier, as electricity output by Tenaga Nasional Bhd. and other power producers gained 4.1 percent, mining increased 3.2 percent, and manufacturing climbed 1.4 percent.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Source: http://www.tehrantimes.com/
index_View.asp?code=158721

Kuala Lumpur (PTI): The Malaysian police on Sunday arrested nine people after protesters gathered here demanding “freedom of assembly” and accusing the government of rights abuses, a fortnight after the police crackdown on thousands of ethnic Indians who staged a rally against alleged mariginalisation.

A group of 50 people, including lawyers and activists, wearing surgical masks, staged a “Peace Walk” past Kuala Lumpur’s landmark Independence Square, to mark World Human Rights Day tomorrow but were stopped by over 300 policemen.

Local police chief Che Hamzah Che Ismail said eight people, including four lawyers, were detained for illegal assembly after defying an order to disperse, the state-run Bernama agency reported.

The protesters, who held banners that read “freedom of assembly” and “Government that abuses human rights is terrorist”, gathered in front of the Sogo Shopping Complex before walking to the Bar Council building, about 2km away.

The Bar Council, which represent some 12,000 lawyers, had earlier called of a planned march after it was denied permission by the police.

Another lawyer was detained when he tried to stop the police from tearing down banners at the Bar Council’s building. Accusing the police of high-handedness and of resorting to “bullying tactics,” Bar Council President Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters: “This is a sad day for human rights in Malaysia.”

Justifying the police action, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who is also Internal Security Minister, said the Government does not practise double standard when taking action against law breakers even if they are lawyers.

“Even today I’ve been informed that police have arrested eight people. Even though they are lawyers, if they break the law, definitely action will be taken against them. “There is no favouritism whatsoever on this matter,” he told reporters after giving away prizes to golfers here.

Former deputy prime minister Anwar Irahim, who had criticised the Nov 25 crackdown on ethnic Indians, condemned the arrests as “scare tactics”.

“The law is being used in Malaysia to subvert freedom and to suppress the people’s fundamental democratic right to peaceful assembly,” he said in a statement.

Malaysia’s government as been shaken by recent street rallies, including one in early November when 30,000 demonstrators converged here calling for electoral reforms.

Thousands of ethnic Indians held a rally against alleged discrimination against the community that makes up eight percent of the population in the Muslim-majority country.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/
000200712091865.htm

Prominent Malaysian leaders and lawmakers of Indian origin have disputed claims by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) that it represents the ethnic Indians and have expressed fears that its campaign could hurt the community’s long-term interests.

One Indian origin leader has questioned Hindraf’s claims of leading a Gandhian protest on Nov 25, pointing out that stones were thrown during its protest rally that the police forcibly dispersed.

The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the oldest political party led by Samy Vellu, who is Minister for Works in Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s government, has said that it had been championing the cause of Indians while staying within the Malaysian system.

The Hindraf does not represent the views of the majority of Indians, said Social Strategic Foundation executive director Denison Jayasooria, adding that the organisation wanted to “trigger religious sensitivities by using words like ethnic cleansing”, The New Straits Times said.

“This is simply wrong. Their ploy will diminish the status of Indians,” Jayasooria said, alleging that the Hindraf’s motives were “far from the truth and questionable”.

He said Indians had to be cautious and not be exploited by these claims, which were “baseless”.

“I believe that Indians can distinguish between what is true and what is not.”

Jayasooria said the government had helped many Indians become successful through various opportunities.

“This clearly indicates that there are opportunities for Indians to progress in the country. This has been achieved by addressing problems through democratic principles.”

Asked how Hindraf’s claims had affected the Indian community, he said the government had responded by investigating its claims through organisations like the police and MIC.

“If Hindraf leaders claim to be followers of Gandhian principles, the act of throwing stones and opposing authority would not have happened.”

He said Malaysia was a proven model of a multi-racial democratic society that applied the due process of law and parliament to formulate laws and policies for its citizens.

“The Hindraf can destroy this process by taking the law into its own hands,” Jayasooria said, adding that the country had “no room for extremists”.

Indians in Malaysia, comprising mainly Tamil Hindus, form eight percent of the country’s 27 million population.

The MIC’s national co-ordinator P. Kamalanathan echoed Jayasooria’s sentiments that Hindraf’s motives were unfounded.

“Its leaders have disgraced Indians and the country. They have been ungrateful to our forefathers who worked hard to develop peace and unity in the nation.”

The Indian immigrants’ views have come forth even as Sultan of Selangor, member of the Malaysian royalty that assumes the Head of the State office by rotation, said he was “upset and angry” at the Hindraf’s campaign and its followers for carrying the portraits of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

The Hindraf staged a rally on Nov 25 to press for a lawsuit before the British court alleging that the present “discrimination” of the Malaysian Indians was because of the way they were brought to Malaysia during the British era.

Voicing his unhappiness at the actions of the Hindraf, the Sultan of Selangor said the rights body has incited hatred and damaged the country’s image by taking its campaign overseas.

“I am disappointed with what the Hindraf has done. I am upset. There are better ways of doing things,” said Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

He said he was “upset and angry” at the Hindraf for holding its “illegal” protest in defiance of the police and causing disruption to many in Kuala Lumpur.

On Hindraf supporters carrying banners and pictures of Queen Elizabeth II during the protest, he said: “Why were they displaying her pictures and asking her to intervene in Malaysia? They can always bring their case to the government,” he was quoted as saying in The Star.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com