PAKATAN LOST INDIAN VOTES IN TENANG

EC announces official results:

BN - 6,699
PAS -2,992
Majority - 3,707

BN's majority is 1,215 votes higher than the one it garnered at the 2008 general elections.

DAP's claim that it won 70% of Chinese votes in Tenang is based on the results from Bandar Labis Tengah, which is 95.7% Chinese. There, DAP has 69.8% share of the total votes (PAS bagged 851 votes as against BN's 365).
As for the other two Chinese-majority areas - Bandar Labis Timor (63.40% Chinese) and Labis (58.3% Chinese) - DAP is arguing that they are able to retain the Chinese votes there, but lost out on the Malay and Indian votes, resulting in PAS losing both polling districts which it won in the 2008 general election.

Tenang Indian voters: Interlok? What’s that?

LABIS: The majority of the Indian voters here are unperturbed as the Interlok debate rages, thus foiling the opposition’s bid to exploit it and win their votes.
Despite the uproar caused by the government’s move to merely amend the book amid demands that it be completely removed, many Tenang Indian voters say they will not vote based on the issue which some have described as “irrelevant”.
“Yes, I am a bit disturbed by it but I got better things to think of,” said one voter who wants to be known only as Sathia, a 32-year-old rubber tapper.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that the controversial textbook would continue to be used for the literature component of Bahasa Malaysia for Form 5 in Zone 2, namely Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said an independent panel would be set up to study the amendments on certain sensitive aspects of the textbook.
The controversy arose when the book, written by national laureate Abdullah Hussein, was picked by the education ministry as one of the Malay literature subjects.
Many quarters claimed the book was an insult to the Indian community as it contains sensitive words like “pariah”.

Tepid response

Pakatan Rakyat has tried hard to exploit the issue in a bid to woo Indian voters who form close to 13% of the electorate.
The attempts have been futile judging from the tepid response of the Indian voters. The majority of them interviewed by FMT said the Interlok fuss was inconsequential.
In fact, many have not heard of the book because they have not even made it to Form 5.
The poverty rate is high among the Indian electorate, with most making an average of RM450 a month working on the rubber and palm oil plantations of government-linked companies.
“So most of them are school dropouts. They are not aware of what the whole Interlok issue is all about,” said Klang DAP parliamentarian Charles Santiago who is helping out in the Pakatan campaign.
A brief visit to the plantation sites shows the dire conditions of the Indians. Some of the houses have no clean water and electricity and the furniture is mostly recycled ones.
This is in stark contrast to the Malay residents in Felda settlements close to the Indian plantation housing estates. Malay Felda settlers here make a minimum income of RM3,000 a month.
“We want a representative who can help us tackle poverty issues, not Interlok,” said Sathia, who can still afford to smile despite his hardship

By: Syed Jammal Zahiid(Free Malaysia Today)

Perkasa: ‘Immoral’ to amend, withdraw Interlok

PETALING JAYA: Pressure group Perkasa is against amending the Interlok novel, calling the decision unfortunate for the writer and the Malay race.
According to Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali, it would be best to withdraw the book and replace it with another, instead of making changes to a work penned four decades ago.
“If there is a need to withdraw the book for the purpose of racial unity, then withdraw it. Perkasa believes that if the book is replaced with another on grounds of racial unity instead of political interests, it will be accepted by all,” he said.
“This is not a school textbook which is found to contain errors, this is the labour of one man, and it is wrong and immoral to make changes without the consent of the author. It’s a violation,” he added.
However, Hassan said that if the author agreed to the amendments, Perkasa would feel ashamed for the entire Malay race.
The Perkasa leader was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement yesterday that the book would be amended and then introduced in schools.
Indian groups, including MIC, protested against the book being used as a component for the Malay literature subject as it contained inaccurate and disaparaging remarks about the community.

‘Know your history’

Meanwhile, Hassan said that Interlok, penned by national laureate Abdullah Hussain in 1971, did not intend to belittle any particular race.
“The word ‘pariah’ or the ‘pariah’ caste is still there. Since back then, those from this caste were brought to Tanah Melayu to work on the estates owned by the British.
“They can no longer be called ‘pariah’ because they are far better (economically) than those from their caste back in India then and now,” he said.
“And if the ‘pariah’ caste still exists, it was because of the labelling of the Indian community itself and not by any other race.
“Those here cannot be called ‘pariah’ because they are (economically) better off. It is different if the rich Indians call their poorer counterparts (by that name),” he added.
The Perkasa leader said that Indian youths must know the history of the caste system and the mention of it in history books or writings was not done with the intention to offend.
“Will Hindraf and MIC abolish the word ‘pariah’? Previously, the late (MIC vice-president and later IPF president) MG Pandithan admitted to being from the caste and was sacked from MIC for all sorts of reasons.
“There are also Indians here who admit to being from that caste. History cannot be erased just like how the history of pirates becoming sultans cannot be erased; this was also mentioned in school books and the sultans never got upset about it,” he said.
After the Interlok controversy erupted, Perkasa had conferred an award on the author.

‘What will Umno lose by banning Interlok?’

KUALA LUMPUR: Over 200 non-governmental organisations have banded together to form the National Interlok Action Team (NIAT) to urge the government to withdraw the book from the secondary school compulsory reading list.
NIAT council member, A Rajaretnam, said that the new coalition, under the leadership of Mohammad Haji Tasleem, was founded on the premise that the Interlok novel cannot, under any circumstances, be used as an educational material in schools.
He said that the book has to be withdrawn from schools with immediate effect and replaced with other books from the other zones.
He also said that all the negotiations on the amendments to Interlok were secondary and subject to approval by the Indian community.
“We will have a nationwide forum to explain to the people about the real issue in the book,” he told FMT after last night’s emergency meeting which saw more than 200 NGOs in attendance.
Rajaretnam said that there was no plausible reason why the government cannot remove the book from the list of compulsory readings in school.
“We want to know what has Umno got to lose if the book is removed and banned. The book is hurting us, not them (Umno),” he said.
Rajaretnam also chastised the government for seeking only MIC views and not taking the issue directly to the people.
“He (Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin) can refer to MIC which secretly supports the book, but do not forget that at some point the government will still have to come back to us for votes. We will remember this,” he said.
On NIAT’s next move now that Muhyiddin has declared that the book stays on the authorised list of reading material, Rajaretnam said that a hunger strike would be held in Brickfield on Sunday.
He said that some 50 university students and youths would take part in the one-day strike.

Inept MIC

Meanwhile, an MIC member today hammered the party for its poor handling of the issue.
Calling MIC a “traitor to Indians”, the source said that the party leadership, the Education Ministry and the Cabinet had already decided to only remove the word “pariah” and keep the book.
“It’s all a drama… they have already decided to remove the ‘pariah’ word from Interlok. They (government and MIC) had no plans to ban the book.
“This is MIC manipulating the situation. It played along with Umno to divert the community’s attention from the other hidden issue in the book.
“We think the federal government directed the school to use the novel as literature book although it is aware that it was a derogatory depiction of the Indian community,” the member, who did not want to be named, he said.
He said that the real issue within Interlok was not the word “pariah” but the “idea and nuances” perpetuated by the book’s content.
“The whole ‘pariah’ word issue is simply a distraction. If you read the book, you will understand that the book aims to stress the fact that Chinese and Indians came to this country as immigrants searching for a life which was better that their homeland.
“Life was hard for them back home. In contrast, Malaya was paradise. So don’t question Malay rights and privileges.
“Interlok simply wants the Chinese and Indians to accept their lot and be thankful to the Malays,” he said.
Noting that he had been an MIC member for 30 years, the MIC member said that he was grossly embarrassed by how MIC had handled the controversial issue.
Meanwhile, the Interlok controversy is not over yet with an NGO planning to step up protest. The World Tamil Preservation Society says it will burn copies of the Interlok book in front of the Subramaniam temple in Labis at 6pm today

By: B Nantha Kumar (Free Malaysia Today)

Interlok retention condemned

PETALING JAYA: Various groups have condemned the government decision to retain the novel Interlok as a Malay literature text in schools, and their anger is directed mostly at Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister.
Klang MP Charles Santiago called it a “slap” on the face of Malaysian Indians and accused Muhyiddin of pandering to ultra-Malays to win votes in the Tenang by-election.
Muhyiddin, who announced the government decision today, said there would be amendments to the Abdullah Hussain novel to avoid hurt to Indian sentiments. Many groups are offended by what they describe as the novel’s stereotyped and misleading characterisation of Indians in Malaysia.
“He is pandering to the conservatives within Umno to secure his position in the party at the expense of the Indian community,” said Santiago.
This morning, Santiago led a group of 25 people representing non-governmental organisations and opposition parties to the Tenang police station, where they lodged a police report against the Education Minister and demanded complete withdrawal of the novel from schools.

Government misled?

The International Movement for the Preservation of Tamils, one of the NGOs, said it would hold a special prayer tomorrow in response to the Muhyiddin’s announcement.
“We will hold the prayer in Subramaniyar temple in Labis,” said the group’s public relations officer R Suresh Kumar.
He urged MIC to condemn the decision, saying this was the best time for the party to prove its mettle.
“If the MIC president has any clout in BN, he should act now,” he said.
The chairman of the Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs, A Vaithilingam, said the decision went against the government’s 1Malaysia campaign.
“I believe the government has been misled,” he said.
The Malaysian Indian Business Association also condemned the decision, with its president P Sivakumar arguing against the establishment of another panel to amend the novel.
He added that the Indian community’s view on the matter was very clear.

“The book should be taken out from schools,”said Sivakumar, who warned that the Indians may punish the ruling government for this in the next polls.

P Uthayakumar, the secretary-general of the Human Rights Party, meanwhile said he would respond only after seeing the amendments to the novel.

Kavyan welcomes it

However Kavyan Writers Association welcomed Muhyiddin’s decision to retain Interlok with necessary amendments.
“The decision is proof that the government is willing to listen to the plight and voices of the Indians,” said its president Uthaya Sankar SB.
He also reiterated the association’s stand that it was the Education Ministry and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka(DBP) that should take the blame, instead of National Laureate Abdullah Hussain since the copyright for the students’ edition was held by DBP.

BY: B Nantha Kumar and G Vinod (Free Malaysia Today)

Interlok...Cabinet decided to move on

Nothing much can be done about the book Interlok because the Indians in Malaysia have no voice and not united enough.The MIC leaders are simply not capable of convincing the BN goverment to withdraw the book from being the compulsory text book for Form 5 and SPM exam.
If Indians eat sireh like goats, Malays eat ferns like camels.If Indians are pariah, malays are incestors.If Indians came by steamship,malays came by perahus.But Indians did not grab the land and drive the orang Asli into the deep jungle.
The only way to set this and other things right is for all non malays to vote against BN in all elections. Get BN out of federal government. But are our Indians willing to save own face and Integrity? If we need HINDRAF 2 to wake us up for TSUNAMI 2, IT MEANS WE ARE SLEEPING!
Do not blame others if we fail to do our part. Be proud to be called PARIA.