September 7, 2011 From MK Periasamy, via e-mail, FMT LETTER

Having recently received a mass forwarded e-mail about an upcoming conference on the future of Indians, I was interested to see who had taken the initiative to organise this event. In any event, another conference is just BN’s and PR’s delaying tactics.

It seems to me that what needs to be done for the Indians is clear for all except the politicians and current Indian ‘champions’. The promoters in the case of this conference are P Sivakumar, Malaysian Indian Business Association president and Denison Jayasooria.

The Jokers: Sivakumar & Denison Jayasooria

On Sivakumar, I read with interest a letter from SA Kumaresan recently who correctly questioned the contributions of MIBA since it was setup by Sivakumar more than 10 years ago now.

MIBA has generated next to nothing for the Indian community apart from organising talk shop after talk shop, where like minded people get together and lament dishonest politicians and poor delivery but never ever themselves step up to do anything about it.

Sivakumar has managed MIBA the MIC way without holding proper elections and summarily dismissing people from his organising committee according to his will and fancies. It would be a surprise to many if this Johor Bahru organisation of not more than 25 people pretending to be a national organisation ever achieves anything.

He has excluded the SMC and other notable Indian NGOs from this forum, NGOs that actually contribute to the Indian community.

This clearly shows that Sivakumar’s only motivation is to scale the social ladder and become yet another empty vessel Indian ‘champion’, content to occupy centerstage but unwilling to sacrifice in order to achieve.

Sivakumar is joined by Denison Jayasooria, the one time protégé of S Samy Vellu. Over the last 10 years of Samy Vellu’s reign as MIC president, Denison was his brains trust and one-man think tank.

If anyone can recall any positive changes that were delivered to the Indian community over the last decade of Samy Vellu’s reign, many Indians would be interested to know what these are as we cannot recall any.

How Denison and the MIC foundation, YSS, that Denison led spent RM30 million are still things that have not been cleared up. One thing Denison did do, while under Samy’s watchful eye, was to organise conference after conference and conduct a lot of research that never ever amounted to actual improvement in the lives of Indians.

He regularly publishes books compiling the outcomes of the conferences he organises, books that are really not worth the paper they are printed on. The only reason he left Samy is because he was refused a seat and a deputy ministership when he personally approached Samy for this before the 12th General Election.

More recently, he was also removed from the Special Implementation Taskforce of the BN government because he wanted to replace minister Dr Subramaniamas as chairman of the said taskforce.

In order to shore up his relevance, and rather than take risks and be bold as people like S Ambiga have been, he has chosen to do research loudly i.e. to catch the public eye and therefore hope to maintain his dwindling relevance to the Indian community.

Furthermore, he and a group of has-beens regularly put out statements from a group called Proham on any issue of the day, content to comment but never to act.

If the initiative to chart the future of the Indian community is now left to people like Sivakumar and Denison and not with members of the Indian community that have actually achieved something real for themsleves and for the community, then we Indians are really in trouble.

The BN and PR will not honestly help us out, and if these two jokers are what we are left with, then we really have to wake up and take notice.

Susan Loone, Sep 7, 11, Malaysiakini

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy has totally denounced a planned forum on Indian issues between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, saying it was an attempt to pit the community members against each other.

Ramasamy (left) said the forum, organised by Malaysian Indian Business Association (Miba) for this Sunday in Shah Alam between Indians leaders was “meaningless” as they were not responsible for the dire straits of the community.

He laid the blame squarely on Umno, and challenged the organisers to hold a debate instead between Pakatan and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

“Why should Indians debate Indians? I want to debate with Najib, because Umno is the cause of backwardness in the Indian community,” he told reporters in Penang.

“Why must we again marginalise the Indians? Why do I need to debate with MIC, it is a spineless body under Umno, who is the master puppeteer,” added the Batu Kawan MP.

Dubbed “the battle to win hearts and minds for the Indian vote”, the forum will feature heavyweights from both sides of the political divide including Indian NGO representatives.

G Palanivel (right), the newly-minted MIC chief, his PPP counterpart M Kayveas, and Gerakan senator A Kohillan Pillay are slated to represent the ruling coalition.

Ramasamy, PKR's Xavier Jayakumar and PSM's Dr Michael Jeyakumar are supposed to speak on the outlook for Indian Malaysians in the next general election.

'Never officially invited'

Ramasamy, who is DAP international bureau secretary, said he was never officially invited for the forum and was unaware of the matter until he saw his name in the newspapers.

He added he was “shocked” that his name was already in the news promoting the event although the organisers had not obtained his consent nor confirmed his attendance.

“I only received a call from Miba three days ago, and I told them I have a prior programme to attend,” he said.

“I am not comfortable that they have used my name without permission. It is wrong to do that because it seems as if I endorse the event and have agreed to participate when I do not want to,” he added.

“It is not that I am afraid to debate but it is pointless to debate with MIC or Indian leaders from BN who have no backbone and who are not the ones responsible for the Indian situation,” he stressed.

Ramasamy is also upset that the organisers are charging participants RM100 each to participate in the event, which will focus on the promises made to the community and their expectations after the 2008 'political tsunami'.

He added that he was prepared for a public debate anywhere but asking participants to fork out RM100 is “preposterous”.

“Is it because they want only selected members to attend? The fees may be paid by MIC to get their members to participate for an ego-boosting exercise for their leaders,” Ramasamy quipped.

September 7, 2011 FMT LETTER

From Janarthani Arumugam, via e-mail

I read with great interest the article in Malaysiakini entitled “Ramasamy snubs forum, wants debate with Najib”. I admit his decision not to be part of the publicity mongering stunt by BN and its honchos, is admirable.

Prof Ramasamy has made some significant contributions to the study of Malaysian Indians in his wonderful academic treatises, however his impact has not been as significant in politics.

Judging from the lack of proactive policies which have been implemented in Pakatan states for a marginalised community, there seems to be little interest to address the legitimate grouses of ethnic Indians in this country.

The thing is, when does the Indian debate rise beyond the petty dialectics of minor politicians vying for a little bit of power? When will these ethnic representatives be worthy of a debate on rights and social justice?

To be statesmen, they need to be able to shake off their petty egos so that they may elevate the struggle to one beyond ethnicity and appeasing their political masters. The case in point would be the MIC leaders who have long towed the line in return for two Ministerial positions which benefits the politically privileged in MIC and not the community.

It is timely to move beyond racial chauvinism and deal with real issues facing the community. Has there been an independent study conducted to understand poverty among Indians? Do we know the root causes of poverty amongst them?

Why plantation workers have been demanding rightfully for an increase in wages for the past 53 years, despite having GLCs for employers? Do we have affirmative action for economically and socially marginalised groups regardless of their ethnicity? And I am not talking about the New Economic Policy which has benefited a minority of wealthy relatives of the ruling elite.

It is timely for Indians to reflect on the realities of living in a nation that has forgotten their toil and sacrifice. They need become independent of leaders whose representational politics erodes the bargaining position of the community.

The next GE will bring these wolves at our doors demanding for votes with empty bags of promises. We need to be able to see through this charade. The community needs to rise above chauvinism and start using the language of rights, demand for social justice and due recognition for their contributions to this nation.

source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/09/08/the-real-intention-of-the-sept-11-forum/

From Denison Jayasooria, via e-mail

I write to clarify some of the wild e-mails and even press reviews in recent days on MIBA and my role in the Sept 11 forum on the 13th General Election  and the Indian community. Is forum a debate between BN and PKR?

The organisers and I never described it as a debate. It was a media article that presented it so. The forum is a meeting of minds on political issues and how Indians should position themselves as their vote is significant.

Programmes have been organised into six different panels so even political parties are in different panels. Discussion is not just among the political parties. Why an engagement only among Indians? Some have said this forum is dividing the community and the discussion should not be among Indians but should be between Indians and Umno.

Different forums can have different objectives. Here we wanted an engagement among Malaysian Indians from across the political divide, civil society, business community and academic to share their views. Basically we wanted political parties and politicians to state:

-       What was promised in the 2008 GE?

-       What have they achieved between 2008 to 2011

-       What are gaps?

-       What do they promise to do if elected for another term?

Different individuals are holding political positions in federal, state and local governments. Within their capabilities, what are they able to share of their achievements and success, struggles and challenges, hopes and dreams.

Therefore, an opportunity is provided to political representatives, civil society as well as business and academic community. It is an engagement among the Indian community to reposition their political views, give stock and also set a tone for the 13th GE.

What do we expect from aspiring candidates? Who should we support from with the Indian community and also from other communities? There is value in discussing with the community as well as value across the community with other communities.

This forum is focused on a discussion from within the community on the matters for the 13th General Election. Thus far no one has organised such a gathering and there is a need to engage among ourselves especially across the political divide on common issues of concern.

Is BN, MIC, Umno behind this forum? This forum was a thought I had after a number of us hosted a discussion among academics on political leadership and the Indian community at UKM on July 21, 2011. I moderated the discussion and the four presenters were non Indians (Ben from Merdeka centre, Dr Ong from UCSI, Prof Mansor and Teo from UKM).

The criticism at that forum was why non Indian academics were working on Indian issues. Arising from that, I raised with Mr Sivakumar of MIBA if his organisation will host a public forum and I will write the framework paper. He agreed and invitations were set out.

There is no higher human hand at work. My friends from the BN feel that this was very anti-MIC/BN due to the proposed line up of speakers. On the other side, individuals seem to have a view that this is Umno created, pro BN-MIC event and what right do these chaps have to organise such a forum.

My feeling is that anyone can organise programmes and it is up to people to decide if there is value in it, worth making a monetary contribution and participating. On the other hand, they have the freedom not to participate too.

However we encourage as many from different view points to engage with one another.  We have a good cross section of speakers who have agreed to come – some politicians, some from business community, some academic and others from civil society. Hope we can have a very fruitful discussion and the findings will be published and circulated.

It is an open forum and the media have been invited to participate too. Should the forum be focused on engaging Umno? It is a good suggestion and people who feel so could have organised it. If it emerges as one area for follow up from the Sept 11, 2011 forum, we could consider engaging leaders of political parties.

Was YB Dr Ramasamy and others officially invited? We invited leaders from MIC, PPP, Gerakan, DAP, PKR, PSM. Also a number of civil society leaders like Mr Uthyakumar, Mr Kengadharam, Mr Ganabathirau,Datuk Ambiga and Ms Ivy Josiah.

These individuals have written and shared their views on many Indian and national issues. We felt that their views are also important. However they all turned down the invitation for different reasons.

Between Mr Sivakumar and I we divided the responsibility to invite the proposed speakers. Yes Mr Sivakumar contacted Dr Rama.

Yes he had indicated he can’t make it. Datuk Palanivel too had not confirmed. The programmd which was circulated had indicated in the case of a number (including Dr Ramasamy and Datuk Palanivel that they were “ Invited but still waiting for confirmation.

However, the Tamil media had listed them with their photos. In the case of Star write up it was written such as the following are invited.

We acknowledge that the following  six moderators have confirmed: Tan Sri R Navaratnam (CPPS-ASLI), Tan Sri Arjit Singh (Former Asean Sec Gen), Mr Ragunath Kesavan (Former Bar Council Chair), Prof CP Ramanchandran (Former UPM), Dr S Sivamoorthy (MIBA) and Prof KS Nathan (UKM).

Ten speakers have confirmed and awaiting confirmation from two more: Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria (UKM), Prof Dr NS Rajendran (UPSI), Mr Murugesan (MIC), YB Dr Xavier Jayakumar (PKR), Mr K Arumugam (Suram), Mr S Paspuathi (Tamil Foundation), Mr P Sivakumar (MIBA), Pardip Kumar (Paradise), Mr Kumeresan (Builders Association), Datuk Siva Subramanium (Proham/Former Suhakam), YB Michael Jeyakumar (PSM), YB Sivarasa (PKR) and Prof Dr Terence Gomez (UM).

Why charge RM100?

Basically this is to cover the cost. Instead of asking a government sponsor or private sponsor,  MIBA decided that every one participating could contribute to cover the 2 teas and I lunch and contribute towards the rental of the meeting room. Menara PKNS (15 floor) is charging RM75.00 per person (for meals and use of facilities). The addition RM25 is to cover other overhead cost.

It is really sad that many have made a big issue of this. MIBA will give a break down of registration fees and expenses and make this public to avoid further doubt of this matter.

Why should MIBA or Denison organise this programme? This is a democratic country all have the freedom to organise forums and discussions. Others could have but none did. We had the thought of brining Indian political leaders and others for an engagement. We have extended invitations to a cross section of people. Those who are unhappy also had a right not to participate.

It is unfortunate that so many wild accusations are being made on MIBA, Sivakumar and myself without seeking clarification or proper understanding. Anyway this part of challenges we face in public life but let’s try and move on.

Would anything come out of Sept 11 PJ Forum? We are really hoping it would and arising out of the discussions we can follow through some of the specific concerns especially those pertaining to 13th General Election.

The writer is Principal Research Fellow, Institute of Ethnic Studies UKM