Ucapan YB M. Manoharan di Persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor dari 11hb Julai, 2011 hingga 15 hb Julai, 2011 sebelum membentangkan Usul:
‘Bahawasanya Dewan yang Mulia ini dengan serta-merta melaksanakan program khusus bagi kaum India di seluruh Negeri Selangor di bawah Pakatan Rakyat dengan mengarahkan serta-merta Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Negeri Selangor (PKNS) untuk memberi diskaun sebanyak 30% bagi semua jenis kategori perumahan untuk semua kaum berketurunan India yang miskin dan lahir di Negeri Selangor.’
Honourable Members of the Dewan,
Selangor is highly urbanized and the most prosperous state in Malaysia
A decent and comfortable house is vital for a stable home. A stable home creates a happy family and happy families are the building blocks of a harmonious and prosperous society.
Housing like education is a fundamental need.
We in the nation’s most prosperous state must admit that housing needs of the poor Indians are a crying shame.
Research (nationwide figures) has shown that:
a) only 20.5% of Indian owned houses have a flush toilet
b)only 46.7% of Indian houses have rubbish collection facilities
c) only 55.4 % have access to piped water facilities
d)only 57.6 % have postal delivery service to their homes
I have just quoted figures for those who have houses to live. What about those who don’t? We refer to them as squatters; in other places they are usually known as slum dwellers.
16.1 % of all squatters are Indians (a much higher proportion than their population numbers). In 1999, in a survey conducted in the Subang area found that out of 7282 Indians, 50% were squatters.
When Felda was introduced, a pathetic 1% of the land was allotted to Indians and I doubt the figure has changed much. Indians only own 2% of the total agricultural land in Malaysia
Another scheme, one of the numerous failures of the Federal government in the provision of decent and affordable houses to poor Indians, is the Estate Home Ownership Scheme. Nationwide, only 48 estates built a mere 4456 houses in the 23 years after the introduction of the scheme.
In Selangor, a pathetic 1359 houses were built by just 12 estates from 1982 to 1996.
The BN Government’s initiative in the provision of low- cost houses has had limited effect on the house ownership of Indians. A great majority of them do not have the financial capability to make the down payment for purchasing houses. They also face huge challenges in obtaining bank loans. Almost 40% of Indian households earn less than RM 2000 per month.
In the last 2 decades, approximately 100 000 Indian plantation workers lost their jobs and accommodation as a result of plantation land acquired for property and township development and a great majority of them were in Selangor.
The majority of them moved to urban areas and descended into a negative environment that engenders a culture of deprivation and neglect with a high incidence of social problems out of proportion with their numbers. They lack the knowledge and skills to improve the quality of their lives. Their children are under-nourished, under-educated, under-achievers and generally prone to dysfunctional behaviour, all classical symptoms of a neglected community deprived of decent and affordable housing.
Numerous studies conducted all over the world have shown a direct link between crime and economic/ social inequality.
We can help these poor Indians by legislating that all poor Indians be eligible for a 30% discount on PKNS houses.
Ucapan YB M. Manoharan di Persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor dari 11hb Julai, 2011 hingga 15 hb Julai, 2011 sebelum membentangkan Usul:
‘Bahawasanya Dewan yang Mulia ini dengan serta-merta memastikan agar kesemua Sekolah-Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina dan Tamil di seluruh Negeri Selangor mempunyai sekurang-kurangnya 10 ekar tanah setiap sekolah bagi menghapuskan label bantuan modal ke atas sekolah-sekolah tersebut, khususnya 53 buah Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina dan 67 buah Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil.
Bahawa dengan ini, Dewan yang Mulia ini menggesa Kerajaan Negeri Selangor di bawah pimpinan YAB Dato’ Menteri Besar agar melaksanakannya dengan:
1) Menggunapakai Akta Pengambilan Tanah 1960 untuk mengambil alih milikan-milikan tanah yang berdekatan dengan sekolah-sekolah tersebut bagi memastikan keluasan 10 ekar tanah tersebut;
2) Menggesa Kerajaan Persekutuan menukar kesemua status sekolah-sekolah tersebut daripada status bantuan modal kepada bantuan penuh sejurus selepas memastikan keluasan 10 ekar tanah tersebut diperolehi’
Honourable members of the Dewan,
The state of Tamil schools and their poor performance is a reflection of the political, social and economic position of the Indian community.
In Selangor, there are about 30 000 (29 294) students in 98 schools, of which 67 are partially aided (bantuan modal).
These schools are trapped in a time capsule. Shortage of qualified teachers, space, equipment, chairs and desks are still common problems. These schools truly belong to an under – developed country. Unfortunately, these schools are in Malaysia
With the exception of a handful of these, the vast majority were set up during the colonial times to provide minimal education for future labourers. Sadly, not much has changed for these schools since then.
But much has changed for the Indian socially and economically. Estates are no longer a viable source of employment. He has to face the challenges of the modern economy and his children have to follow suit. Does the Tamil school of today have what it takes to help prepare the Indian child for these challenges? Honourable members of the Dewan, the answer is an emphatic NO!
The single biggest challenge is that a great majority (67) of these schools are partially aided because the land on which these schools are situated is private land. Under the Education Act 1955, schools located on private land are not eligible for a full grant from the government. As a result, these schools are forced to source their own funds for basic infrastructure, including classrooms.
I believe that every school should have a large field, a school hall, science and computer laboratories, a well stocked library, a decent canteen and of course, a conducive staff room to produce a progressive student.
It is sad to see the National schools enjoying these facilities while Tamil schools have to live side by side like the neglected step-child deprived of even some basic facilities.
85% of these Tamil schools are on the fringes of development and marginalized just like the Indian community at large. It is common knowledge that these schools lack basic infrastructure, are ill supervised and truancy among students is high. Parents do not have the means to send their children to better managed schools far away from their homes.
The drop-out rate from these schools is about 30%. How can Selangor be a developed state when there are about 2 000 entrants into the state’s labour force from Tamil schools every year who could not even muster a primary level education?
In the 5th Malaysia Plan, Tamil schools were allocated only RM 657 per student for 5 years as opposed to RM 1998 for each student in the National schools; a whopping 3 times as much.
I believe it is how people treat the weakest members in their society that tells something of the nature and character of their nation. If we truly want to be a developed state, we must avoid the chest thumping actions of the previous administration, and truly look into the plight of this neglected section of our state.
The convenient and perennial excuse provided by the Education Ministry is that these schools are on private land.
We in Selangor can make a DIFFERENCE. We can help remedy the situation. We can lead the way for all the Tamil schools in the country. We can show and make it a reality that a sound education is the way out of the poverty trap and the key to upward social mobility for Indians.
Honourable members, I therefore move the motion that all Chinese and Tamil schools in the state be granted 10 acres of land each.
Ucapan YB M. Manoharan di Persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor dari 11hb Julai, 2011 hingga 15 hb Julai, 2011 sebelum membentangkan Usul:
‘Bahawasanya Dewan yang Mulia ini dengan serta merta melaksanakan program – program khusus bagi kaum India di seluruh Negeri Selangor dibawah Pakatan Rakyat yang amat prihatin terhadap nasib Kaum India dengan melancarkan skim-skim berikut:
1) Membuka tanah seluas 2000 ekar bagi
200 buah keluarga kaum India
miskin bagi mengusahakan tanah untuk
tujuan pertanian, penternakan dan/atau
pun perikanan; dan
2) Menubuhkan satu dana RM 100 juta
bagi membantu golongan kaum India
untuk menceburkan diri di dalam bidang
perniagaan khususnya SMI dan skim ini
dikelolakan oleh satu Jabatan di bawah
pimpinan YAB Menteri Besar yang dikenali
sebagai Jabatan Hal Ehwal Kaum India.’
Honourable members of the Dewan,
No society can claim to be have truly progressed when large sections remain mired in poverty.
The Indian community in Selangor has been watching the wheels of progress and development whizz pass them as they wallow in poverty and destitution.
It is true that many of these issues require Federal Government intervention, we in Selangor need to do our part till the day we capture the Federal Government.
In 2007, there were 657 000 Indians in a total Selangor population of 5 million, making up 13 % of the state’s population. Selangor has 11 State seats where Indians form 20 – 30% of the electorate and 10 Parliamentary seats where 15 – 20% of the voters are Indians.
Almost 65% of the Indians are employed as plant & machine operators, elementary and low income sales workers.
The Mid Term Review of the 9th Malaysian Plan found that the national equity ownership of the corporate sector held by the Indians had declined to 1.1% from 1.2% in 2002, while the share of the Malays and Chinese had increased significantly.
The proportion of Indians in the public universities intake for the popular courses has also declined in the last 2 decades. The proportion of Indians in their favoured professions – doctor, lawyer & teacher is also dropping.
Indians are clearly a disadvantaged group.
What are the reasons behind these grim statistics? The reasons are many but 2 very significant factors are
1) Failure of the NEP in overcoming the problems facing the Indian community
2) Neglect of the Tamil schools
The NEP has failed the Indian community in both counts:
1) Restructuring society so that employment is not identified with race
2) Eradication of poverty irrespective of race
Today, we find that the Indians have been edged out of the public sector, which has become overwhelmingly Malay, and many have gravitated towards menial jobs which require very basic or no skills at all.
Today, Indians are identified with low-pay jobs like Car Washers, Security Guards, Drivers, Plantation workers, Debt Collectors, Tow Truck Operators, Barbers, Cleaners, Despatch workers etc.
Indians are under-represented in business and most of the professions except for doctors and lawyers and are over represented in the menial and lower categories.
There is acute poverty in the community. However, much the BN Government tries to camouflage the situation by dubious statistics and withholding of accurate information, the problems that manifest are symptomatic of the deep malaise in the community.
Some of these symptoms show that Indians form the biggest group among violent criminals, school drop-outs, children in orphanages and shelter homes as well as the homeless and landless. And the very Government that was to assist the Indians turns around and condemns them for their backwardness!
Indians have not benefitted from the measures undertaken by the NEP like FELDA, ASN & ASB, RISDA and the like. They are left to fend themselves when they are displaced from the plantations and generally drift to slum areas to be employed in the manual & low skilled jobs.
Those who were prosperous toiling the land have been evicted with hardly any compensation when the land is acquired for development. As an example, in 1993, when Bandar Bukit Tinggi was developed, 13 families who had been rearing cattle for the previous 50 years with 800 heads of cattle and goats were evicted.
However, Bukit Tinggi Estate was sold to the developer for a whopping RM 186 million!
I urge the State Government of Selangor to help the Indian Community that has been neglected and ignored by the previous BN state governments as well as the present Federal Government which has a 54 year history of marginalizing the Indian Community.
‘Bahawasanya Dewan yang Mulia ini dengan serta-merta mengutuk dan membantah sekeras-kerasnya tindakan Kerajaan Persekutuan yang telah gagal dan/ atau enggan untuk membina Jambatan Ketiga di Klang bagi mengatasi kesesakan jalanrayawalaupun ianya telah dijanjikan oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan semasa kempen-kempen Pilihanraya ke 12 pada tahun 2008 sebagai janji-janji pilihanraya mereka.
Bahawa dengan ini, Dewan yang Mulia ini menggesa Kerajaan Persekutuan agar segera membina Jambatan Ketiga tersebut untuk rakyat Selangor khasnya dan rakyat Malaysia
Honourable members of the Dewan,
Responsible leaders and Governments will always honour their word, promises and commitment.
The Federal Government does not fall into that category.
They have reneged on their promise to build a third bridge to alleviate the congestion in the Klang township during the 12 General Election Campaign in 2008.
In March 2008, former Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo jointly launched the construction of the bridge.
However, there had been no sign that the proposed RM230mil bridge project would take off in the near future and there has been also talk that the project was shelved following Barisan Nasional’s defeat in Selangor in the last state election. If this is indeed true, then it is crude political revenge, resembling infantile behaviour.
Speculation is also rife that the bridge falls under the ‘Abdullah Era’ basket of projects that have been shelved or forgotten like the many, many fuzzy ‘Corridors’.
According to the original proposal, the 2.5km project will have four flyovers.
The bridge intends to complement Jambatan Kota and Jambatan Musaeddin by connecting Jalan Pasar and Jalan Tepi Sungai as well as Jalan Meru and Jalan Kapar to Jalan Sungai Bertek.
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After many years, motorists are enjoying a smoother ride due to the completion of the flyover in Persiaran Sultan Ibrahim.
But I wonder how long the situation would last especially with the increasing population in Klang.
Many do not realize that Klang already has a population of 1 million, about 2/3rds the population of Kuala Lumpur
There have been several new townships in recent years and more are being built.
Therefore the third bridge is a necessity so that the town would not be faced with serious traffic congestion in the near future. The traffic situation is smooth now but it would not be the same in the coming years.
The third bridge would allow traffic to be diverted from the town as motorists from Jalan Kapar, Jalan Meru and the North Klang Valley Expressway heading towards South Klang need not use Jambatan Kota or Jambatan Musaeddin.
Likewise, motorists from South Klang heading towards Jalan Kapar, Jalan Meru, Kuala Selangor and NKVE will find it convenient to use the third bridge.
During question time in Parliament on the bridge last year, it was mentioned that the Federal Government did not have the funds to execute the project.
But in the last session of Parliament, it was also revealed that almost RM 48 million is spent annually on the lease and other expenses to maintain the official residences of the PM and DPM.
There is colossal wastage in the manner the Federal Government manages the finances of the nation.
They will just have to plug the leakages, trim the wastages and do away with the excesses and unnecessary expenditures that is closely associated with the Federal Government.
I suggest that the Works Ministry resubmit a new funding allocation request and that the Prime Minister's Dept approves it.
It is the height of irresponsibility for the former Works Minister and former Selangor MB
Honourable members, we cannot take the situation for granted. We have to plan now for the future.
As the Chinese proverb goes ‘You cannot begin to dig a well when you are about to die of thirst.’
The bridge must be included in the Tenth Malaysia Plan or, alternatively included as part of the National Key Economic Areas just like the ‘River of Life ’ Klang River Third Bridge
I, therefore, move the motion that the Federal Government allocates the funds to start the construction of the Third Bridge
‘Bahawasanya Dewan yang Mulia ini menarik perhatian bahawa Pakatan Rakyat mengamalkan prinsip kebebasan beragama sepertimana yang termaktub dalam Perkara 11 Perlembagaan Perseketuan.
Bahawa dengan ini, Dewan yang Mulia ini mengesa Kerajaan Negeri Selangor untuk segera memutuskan dan mengeluarkan surat pekeliling (circular) kepada semua pihak-pihak yang berkenaan dan berkaitan agar semua Masjid, Surau, Kuil-Kuil Hindu, Tokong-Tokong Cina, Gereja dan semua rumah-rumah Ibadat bukan Islam tidak boleh dirobohkan dan juga tidak boleh dipindahkan walau apa sekalipun keadaannya.
Bahawa dengan ini Dewan yang Mulia ini menggesa Kerajaan Negeri Selangor untuk mengekalkan di tempat asalnya semua Masjid, Surau, Kuil-Kuil Hindu, Tokong-Tokong Cina, Gereja dan semua rumah-rumah Ibadat Bukan Islam.’
Honourable members of the Dewan,
Ours is decidedly an extremely plural society. Although, the BN at the helm of the Federal Government and 9 other State governments in the country never fails to remind the rakyat of this unique fact of Malaysian life; it is just a hollow slogan on their part to appease the non Muslim electorate on the domestic front, and slick public relations for the rest of the democratic world.
In Selangor, BN paid a heavy price politically in the last 2008 General and State Elections for this charade but it has not stopped them from raising the biased and chauvinist voice on every religious issue since. The ‘Cow Head Protest’ is a typical example of UMNO’s machinations. They have privatized or outsourced so many State enterprises ‘successfully’ that they are now outsourcinging the extremist religious voice to groups like the ‘Cow Head Protestors’, PERKASA and the like.
Why am I alluding to UMNO in this matter?
Precisely, because UMNO sets the extremist agenda in the State and forces the Pakatan Government to respond.
UMNO’s strategy is to potray the Pakatan Government as ‘giving in’, ‘soft’ and incapable of defending the status of Islam and the rights of Muslims in the State.
UMNO is irresponsible and it would be foolish to move according to its dictates.
As an example, UMNO is fond of inciting residents, usually a small but very vocal group in the vicinity of non Muslim houses of worship to protest against its presence. Usual complaints are noise, traffic congestion and the like. Issues that can be easily resolved in the spirit of Muhibbah but UMNO will bring in the biased MSM to portray that the Pakatan Government has sold out to the non Muslims for electoral purposes. They drive the issue to a frenzy; as if Islam is under threat and that non Muslims no longer have respect for the religion.
But the Truth is far from it. Time and again, the astute, wise, fair and capable State leadership of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and his team has defused these ‘bombs’ and taken us on the path of moderation and justice.
The Temple
However, the flip side to these issues is that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of the non Muslims. In every compromise, it is the non Muslim who has to give in, whether it is a demolition exercise or relocation.
It is not fair, but more importantly, it may also cost us electorally if we keep responding to these UMNO manufactured crises by getting the non Muslims to ‘give in’ each time it occurs.
In Georgetown, Penang, there are 3 major Houses of worship including the renown Masjid Kapitan Kling in the vicinity of Lebuh Farquhar and not only there is perfect harmony among the people but the place has attained fame as a major international tourist attraction in showcasing religious diversity and harmony.
In Malacca and Perak, we have numerous similar scenarios.
Why then in Selangor, there has to be relocations? Why can’t crass physical development give in to the sanctity of Temples
The Mid Valley City is a thriving piece of commercial development built ingenuously around the presence of a Hindu Temple
I could go on and on but suffice to say that it is not at all essential to demolish or relocate any house of worship in the State of Selangor
