Uthaya: We didn't anticipate losing our deposit

INTERVIEW The following is the final of the two-part interview of Hindraf founder P Uthayakumar. In this part, he talks about his loss in the May 5 general election and what he hopes will be the future role of Hindraf he claims to represent.

Part one appeared yesterday.

Why did you choose to stand for election against a Pakatan Rakyat candidate when you knew it was a losing battle and there was a desire for change amongst a certain section of the electorate?

We had no choice. I have been and am consistent with the struggle that on top of Umno even the five Pakatan-ruled state governments were and are practicing institutional racist policies - see www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com - on day-to-day issues.

The concerns of the Indian poor lacked the political mileage and therefore became vulnerable. Therefore, both Umno and Pakatan take advantage of the Indian situation. For taking a strong stand against Pakatan institutional racism from the day I was released from Kamunting prison, Pakatan had refused to even talk to me despite numerous formal letters and through third parties.

The only solution forward that I could come up with was the uphill task of HRP's Project 15/38 (15 parliamentary seats/38 state seats), which was the creation of Indian majority seats as a means of attaining political empowerment to fight Umno and any other kind of institutional racism.

Project 15/38 was a failure. The closest I could get and my best bet was to contest in Kota Raja (parliament seat) and Seri Andalas (state seat under Kota Raja) - the constituencies with the highest Indian voters in the country.

Pakatan had neither respect nor regard for Hindraf and the almost 2.5 million Indians in the country by blatantly refusing to make way for us in even one of the 222 parliamentary seats for a one-to-one contest with BN.

Spotlight on Barisan’s Indian leaders

By Dr DENISON JAYASOORIA 

THERE are murmurings in the Indian community over posts and positions in the Cabinet, with some individuals questioning the Prime Minister's appointment of Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy as deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department recently.

The reality today is there are more Indian members of parliament in the Opposition than in Barisan Nasional.
MIC has only four MPs to DAP-PKR's eight.

Furthermore, at state level, MIC has five in three states only (Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor) whereas the Opposition has 19, with 14 under the DAP and five under PKR. Barisan Indian candidates under Gerakan and PPP all lost.

When one takes the 60 Parliamentary seats with more than 10% (and up to 30%) Indian voters, only 20 seats were won by Barisan candidates, the remaining 40 were won by Pakatan Rakyat parties.

Thus, there are more elected Indian representatives within the Opposition than in the Barisan Federal Government and state governments.

Therefore, the focus of the Barisan Indian leaders must be not to fight over positions and appointments but to compete to outdo each other for the betterment of the community.

Problems affecting the Malaysian Indian community are huge and there is much work to be done.

MIC already has two ministerial posts and two deputy ministerial posts. PPP has one.

Badminton: Ini Macam Tak Boleh Jadi Lah... (This Cannot Be Lah...)

THINGS are looking bleak as far as badminton is concerned.

How do we explain, especially to foreign friends, Malaysia's embarassing exit on Tuesday in the on-going Sudirman Cup. And the tournament is hosted by us.

Malaysia is supposed to be a badminton-mad country and one of the big powers in the world but could not even survived the group stages of the Sudirman Cup.

Malulah.

The Malaysians were knocked out aftter losing to Taiwan and Germany in Group C.

With due respect to Taiwan and Germany, who played their hearts out, Malaysia had no business to miss the cut to the last eight.

The truth always hurt, like they say.

Malaysia, at least for now, do not have enough world class players and keep on relying on the 30-year-old Lee Chong Wei, who is already reaching the  twilight of his career.

Oh well...this is cliche. Has been said or written many, many times.

And some seem to always blame the doubles pair of  Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong for any misfortunes suffered by badminton.

It is true that  they are struggling to regain their kind of form they enjoyed before which instilled that fear into opponents.

But then it is not just about these two only. It's easy to pin-point certain players for failures because of indiscipline and so on.
.
The thing is that, again, Malaysia are lacking in world class players to be utilised.

This is the result of what we have been doing or rather not doing in the past seven or eight years in term of developing and identifying world class players.

Some are excited with players like Liew Darren, whom they tipped to take over Chong Wei in  bringing honors to the country.

Really?

He is already 25 and yet to win any major tournament. At that age, he should have already winning some major tournaments.

Unless, of course, he is a 'late starter'. But this is badminton, where top players normally already show their prowess, at least, by the early 20s.

Malaysia’s only consolation yesterday was the success story of Khim Wah-V Shem.

Malaysia’s gamble in fielding the youngsters paid off big time when they defeated Ingo Kindervater-Schoettler Johannes 21-16, 23-21 in 36 minutes.

Perhaps, this is the bright spot for Malaysia in this tournament.

Yes..it's only perhaps. Don't get excited.

It's a bit too late to get good results from the current btach of players in the next two years or so with the exception of Chong Wei.

But be patient.

Malaysia should have a few players to be world beaters in near future - five or six years - IF Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and those involved like clubs START start working hard on a more systematic way towards this goal

Source : http://www.malaysiandigest.com/sports/350751-badminton-ini-macam-tak-boleh-jadi-lah-this-cannot-be-lah.html

Mahabharata – Bahagian 33

Putera Salva dari Kerajaan Saubala sering terkenang akan kekalahannya di tangan Bhisma semasa swayamvaram (sayembara) yang diadakan oleh Raja Kaasi. Lebih malang apabila putera itu masih gagal sewaktu berdepan dengan Bhisma bagi kali kedua.

“Betapa aku telah dimalukan! Kekasih aku dibawa pergi di depan mataku sendiri,” katanya kepada diri sendiri dengan perasaan yang berbaur antara marah, kecewa dan malu.

Pada waktu itulah Puteri Amba sampai dari Hastinapura. Sebaik sahaja turun dari kereta kuda, putera itu berlari ke arah kekasihnya. Tanpa dirancang, air mata berguguran.

“Apa yang kau lakukan di sini?” Salva bertanya dengan nada hairan, terkejut dan marah. “Bukankah kau sudah dibawa pergi oleh Bhisma untuk dijadikan isteri?”

Amba segera mengesat air mata dan cuba tersenyum di hadapan kekasihnya. Puteri itu amat memahami rasa terkejut, hairan dan marah yang diluahkan oleh Salva menerusi reaksinya itu.

Uthaya on Hindraf's Kane and Abel situation

INTERVIEW At this moment, it is very easy to demonise P Uthayakumar. No doubt Hindraf (or whatever it is now) and Uthayakumar have done their fair share of demonising of their political opponents. This is the nature of partisan and racial politics.

With my last article - and let's face facts, it was a polemic - I assumed I was done with Hindraf. As a Pakatan Rakyat partisan who was supportive of the aims of Hindraf (even though I was attacked by the racists within the ranks of Pakatan), the fact that P Waythamoorthy and Hindraf, embraced Umno and called for a return of a two-thirds majority after years of fighting the institutional racism that afflicts this country, was a move that for me at least was unforgivable.

However, I still maintained contact with Uthayakumar (left). These days, most people who have always despised Uthayakumar gleefully, link his brother's "betrayal" to him. Mixed in with the usual racists comments about Hindraf, is the added bonus that Uthayakumar was complicit in Waythamoorthy's betrayal of the oppositional forces in this country.

In our conversations, Uthayakumar was adamant that he would never fall under the thrall of Umno and I believe him.

Some Hindraf supporters, those in Waythamoorthy's corner, do not agree with my partisan stand, but my response has always been, that when Hindraf under Waythamoorthy signed the MOU (memorandum of understanding) and when Waythamoorthy become a deputy minister in BN, they lost all claim to being simply a non-partisan non-governmental organisation. Hindraf, or the faction Waythamoorthy represents, is now part of the BN machinery.

Mahabharata – Bahagian 32

Nasib Puteri Amba bagaikan jatuh tangga ditimpa tangga. Sejak beberapa bulan lalu, dia bercinta dengan Putera Salva dari Kerajaan Saubala.

Walau bagaimanapun, ayahnya iaitu Raja Kaasi mengadakan swayamvaram (sayembara) bagi memilih bakal suami bagi Amba dan dua orang adiknya, Ambika dan Ambalika.

Salva tewas kepada Bhisma dalam sayembara melibatkan pertandingan bermain pedang. Malah, putera itu kalah kali kedua apabila cuba berdepan dengan Bhisma semasa mereka dalam perjalanan menuju ke istana di Hastinapura.

“Saya bersedia untuk mengahwini Ambika dan Ambalika, tetapi saya tidak dapat menerima Amba.”
Demikian pula keputusan Vichitravirya sebaik sahaja putera itu mendapat tahu bahawa hati dan cinta Amba sudah menjadi milik orang lain.

Bhisma terkejut mendengar kata-kata adik tirinya yang ternyata sudah semakin matang dalam membuat keputusan. Amba turut terkejut mendengar keputusan Vichitravirya. Ambika dan Ambalika berpandangan. Dalam diam, mereka gembira kerana kakak mereka masih ada peluang untuk bersama kekasihnya, Salva.

“Maknanya kau menolak hadiah yang aku bawa khas untuk kau?”

New cabinet - Waytha, Khairy, Paul Low in; MCA out

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak unveiled his "transformation cabinet" this evening, which included a P Waythamoorthy (below) of Hindraf as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

It also included Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin who was overlooked in the last cabinet - he is tapped as sports and youth minister.

No one from MCA and Gerakan has been included in the new cabinet. However, Najib said that the door is still open to MCA participation if the party amends its decision not to participate in the cabinet.

Another surprise was the appointment of Transparency International-Malaysia president Paul Low (below) as Minister in Prime Minister's Department.

Maybank Berhad chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar was roped in as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, and most probably will be in charge of Economic Planning Unit.

However, Najib did not name the responsibilities of the six ministers in his department, an increase of one compared to his previous cabinet.

The Transport Ministry is understood to be the ministry allocated for MCA, which will be helmed by Hishammuddin Hussein.

Another new face in the cabinet is Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who has been named local government and housing minister.

This cabinet also sees a merger between the education and higher education ministries.

Najib unveiled his cabinet at his office at 5pm. The announcement, Najib’s first official action as head of government following the May 5 general election, was telecast live by local TV channels.

Najib had earlier submitted the cabinet list to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and said his majesty had given his approval to Najib's cabinet list.

"I believe this is a balanced cabinet. It's a balance between the experienced, technocrats and young leaders," he said.

As for MCA's resolution not to take up government positions, Najib said that MCA has to amend its resolution before it can participate in the cabinet.

"If they re-consider later, we have a ministry post ready for them," he said, referring to the Transport Ministry.

Najib's new cabinet is heavily dominated by Umno and PBB with 20 ministers, while PBB (Sarawak) has four. The other posts go to MIC, two, PRS (Sarawak), PBRS, PBS and Upko (Sabah) all have one each.

Three ministers, all of whom are in the PM's Department, have no party affiliation.