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San Diego Safari Park

Northern Caiman Lizard and passenger

Spider Tortoises are critically endangered, and they are bred in captivity to keep population going. Today, they are eating their delicious diet.

Aldabra Giant Tortoise enjoying his first nibble of mulberry this year

Juvenile Aldabra Tortoise likes getting its shell scratched.

A critically endangered tortoise from Madagascar lays an enormous egg

Tortoise scratches it's shell

Hatchling radiated tortoises do love fresh honeysuckle, and Meatball is front and center (2nd from the left).

Tortoise trying to bury itself

Tortoise burying after hatching

YB M. Kulasegaran (DAP - Ipoh Barat) tabled an emergency motion to discuss the Demonstration held on Sunday 25thNovember07 in the city of Kuala Lumpur. My motion came up to day but fornatuly it was rejected99 My motion reads as follows:

Indians are third class citizens?
The wholly unnecessary and excessive use of force by police in firing of tear gas and water cannons against poor Tamils and ordinary Malaysians gathering to voice their grievances is simply intolerable and totally unacceptable in a democratic society respecting the human rights of its citizen.

Over 450 were arrested and dozens suffered serious injuries.
The use of such excessive force is evidence of the discrimination against Tamils and other fellow Malaysians, the state have shown consistently in recent years. It is yet another example of a high-handed, ham-fisted and undemocratic tactics used against poor citizens who are peacefully assembly to air their grievances.

The serious violation of human rights and the high handed manner of police and government action calls for a serious debate in this august house.It is a pressing issue because the Indian community of two million people are upset and angered. They ask whether they are equal first class citizens or unequal third class citizens who deserves such wanton treatment.
Peaceful demonstrations and marches are common and accepted practices around the world. It is a natural form of showing displeasure. Only backward uncivilized societies will use force against its own citizen.

After today Malaysia is simply a police state in the eyes of the world and its own citizens.
Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) have filed a class action suit against the British government in London for taking Indians to Malaya as indentured laborers and exploiting them for 150 years and there after failing to protect their rights as minorities under Malaysian constitution and law.

The Malaysian government should take the above suit seriously and if it does not agree to it challenge it. Bullying tactics by the government and its agencies against Indians and minorities must stopped. they must be held accountable for their actions.
The police and Government should be blamed for arresting without justification hundreds of people. Many suffer serious injuries.

All this could have been avoided if the police had allowed a peaceful assembly to voice legitimate grievances.
I also brought to the house information of the unruly use of "tear gas" and exhibited 4 "tear gas" canisters. This 4 were the more then hundred odd "tear gas" canisters which were used by the police at the scene of the "uprising" near KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. Also I asked why Khairi Jamulddin the Deputy UMNO President and the son in law of the PM has been permitted to conduct demos and how come the Police see it fit to give him a permit but not to HINDRAF

The Speaker said in order to allow a full debate of the motion according to the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat 3 pre conditions need to adhered to. That 1) the motion is specific -- Speaker agrees 2) that the motion is of public importance --he too agrees with this but my motion failed on the issue of urgency. The Speakers mentioned that the police have not granted a permit for the demonstration and there was a court order which prohibited HINDRAF and its supporters from attending the demonstration.
It is regretted that the Speaker rejected my motion for matters of public importance could have been discussed and a strong message could have been sent to the Police and the Government.

The issue of lack of opportunities for Indians to join the civil service (in 1970 there were more then 10% now less the 5%, why?), the failure to build a single new Tamil schools under the 9th Malaysia Plan, why there is a high rate of unemployment, suicide, single mother, criminal cases, illiteracy, the indiscriminate demolishment of Hindu Temples and why over 45% of the detainees at Simpang Renggang are Indians.
A select Parliamentary committee to look into the woes of the Indian Community should be formed.

A golden opportunity to air the communities grievances could have been discussed and debated but all these has now been "swept" under the carpet and hibernating!

from blog.limkitsiang.com

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi returned from the Kampala Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and threatened to use the nefarious law, the Internal Security Act (ISA), against peaceful demonstrators -- marking a new nadir of the four-year broken pledges by the Abdullah premiership on democracy, human rights, accountability, incorruptibility and preparedness to hear the truth from the people.

Yesterday, Aljazeera reported the controversy in Japan over the Education Ministry's latest effort to revise school history textbooks on one of the most notorious wartime incidents in Japan, where the Japanese military ordered and sometimes forced the islanders to commit suicide during the US invasion of Okinawa in the closing days of the second world war. There was a peaceful demonstration of more than 100,000 people in Okinawa to protest against the Japanese Education Ministry's instruction to textbook publishers to edit out all references to the military's role in the mass suicides.

Abdullah wants Malaysians to have "First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality" and not "First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality" and it is time for the government to set the example of such "First-World Mentality" and mindset by accepting the important role of peaceful demonstrations in a first-world developed nation like Japan, United Kingdom, Australia and United States for their citizenry to exercise their democratic rights on freedom of expression and assembly.

What chance and hope of Malaysia becoming a nation with "First-World Mentality" when the government is the worst culprit of having "Third-World" and even "Fourth-World" mindsets, as in threatening to invoke the notorious Internal Security Act?

Many have asked whether mass ISA arrests like the infamous Operation Lalang in 1987, which led to major assaults on the independence and integrity of the judiciary, the emasculation of press freedom and the suppression of a vibrant civil society, is possible under Abdullah's premiership.

With Abdullah's threat to use the ISA yesterday, such a scenario now appears more and more likely - and I call on Abdullah to make clear his real stand on democracy, human rights, accountability, incorruptibility and preparedness to hear the truth from the people.

DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng and I were at the Selayang magistrate's court this morning where some 50 people who had been detained at the Batu Caves Temple on Sunday's Hindraf demonstration and had been released on bail were waiting to be charged for an illegal assembly.

I met many of them and found that they are mostly respectable and law-abiding Malaysian citizens, business people, technicians, contractors, clerks and even executive and management officers, a group of people who cannot be further from the term "penyangak" used by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz yesterday.

Referring to the Hindraf demonstration, Nazri said:

"Some 20,000 penyangak (crooks) who participated in the rally would not jeopardise our viewpoint of the entire community."

I am shocked and saddened by Nazri's language, condemning the 30,000 decent and respectable people who came from all over the country to peacefully and collectively express their cry of desperation for justice at the long-standing neglect and discrimination of their rights as Malaysian citizens.

Who is a penyangak? Kamus Dewan defines "penyangak" as "pencuri, penjahat".

Does the MIC President, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu and all MIC members of the administration, whether Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Secretary, MP or Senator, agree with Nazri that the 30,000 people who turned up for the Hindraf demonstration on Sunday are crooks and rogues, and that the Hindraf rally was a "gathering of crooks"?

Nazri should apologise unconditionally for this insult, not only to the 30,000 people at the Hindraf demonstration but also to the entire Indian community and Malaysian nation. Samy Vellu and the entire MIC team in the administration should insist that Nazri withdraw the term and apologise for it without any qualification whatsoever.

The social, cultural and political uneasiness of the Indian Community has suddenly become the main topic of discussion and debate in this country after the mammoth rally which took place on Sunday 25thNovember07 in Kuala Lumpur.

The MIC President and Works Minister has refuted in uncertain terms that MIC has been a let down to the Indian community. Barisan Ministers and MP's are also echoing the sentiments of Samy. But these assertions if true the more then 30,000 people would not have got down to the street to air their grievances.
What has gone wrong with the Indian community? Indians compose a mere 8% of the population.
1) The Indian community only controls 1.2% of the equity as compared to over 20% by the Malays and nearly over 40% by the Chinese. Out of the 1.2% of the Indian equity one person AnandaKrishana one of the richest man in the country of Indian origin possess nearly 1% of the stake. This leaves the nearly over 2 million Indians owning less then a mere 0.2 of the equity of the country. Now this is the where the so call equal distribution of the economic cake has not benefited the average Malaysian but a few businessman who have are well connected with political leaders of the country.
2) Social problems of the Indian community have been consistently overlooked and side stepped. Take for example a) Suicidal rates. The Indians have the highest suicide rate (21.1 for every 100,000 as compared with the Chinese (8.6) and Malays (2.6) The high rate of suicide clearly shows that the community members are not able to handle the daily demands of life and find a easy way out to commit suicide. B) High numbers of Indians involved in criminal cases as can be seen with over 40% of detainees at the Simpang Renggan detention. Frequently Indians who have been out of the estates land up in urban areas without proper housing and lend up as squatters. Here they find difficulty in getting jobs although the country claims full employment! The failure of the Government to quickly to assist this needy people.

3) The rampant demolishment of Hindu temples all over the country is another cry of the community. Many of the temples are sitting on private or government land .Over 500 temples have been demolished over the last few years with little respect to the sensitive of the Indian community. Hindu goddess statue have been broken with little understanding of how the Hindus feel. Although many a time this matter has been raised in parliament and even brought to YB Nazri in 2005 who said will look into the greivences but to date nothing has taken place. What is needed is a real new policy decision on Temples to be adopoted by the government.
4) Tamil Schools are in a deplorable state and there is also a shortage of teachers. Samy has said over 180 tamil schools have been built over the last two decade and another 80 new Tamil schools would be build. We doubt the figures given by Samy. Under the 9thMalasyisa plan No NEW Tamil schools would be build. That means for the nest 4 years without new schools is Samy saying the new 80 schools would be build in the 10thMalasia plan! In July 2006 over 500 Indian parents protested on the shortage of over 500 teachers in Perak. Although this matters have been raised many a time in Parliament little has been done to address this issue. Why? Is it because the Indians are insignifant as a voting block in this country?

We feel the time has come for the Government to get to the bottom of the matter and find ways to address the matters of public importance. One way for immediate way to attend to all these is to set up a revolving fund of 1 billion to be administered by a special agency of the government to up lift the economic well being of the Indian community. An annual grant of 1 billion for this agency must be done until the community is at par with the other communities. Secondly also the setting up of a department headed by a Minister to




The people in power must all stop the denial syndrome.

Fireworks show during Merdeka Parade in Shah Alam on 30th Aug 2008