This council should have representatives from various religious communities and other relevant parties.

It is our conviction that this consultative council will provide a platform to leaders to deliberate on religious issues and suggest remedies.

Through such communication and interaction will emerge the solutions that will accommodate the interests and aspirations of the diverse communities.

Any particular religion and its details should be left to scholars of that religion and its followers to deliberate on and decide on matters related to the faith.

However, there has to be a platform for representatives from various religious communities to deliberate on and seek remedies for problems and issues that sometimes arise out of interactions of people of different faiths.

In a multiracial and a multi-religious country such as Malaysia, where we interact with each other on a daily basis, there are bound to be instances where issues or even misunderstandings arise.

Through discussion and deliberations, we can continue to help people respect the diversity among us and continue to cultivate mutual respect.

We believe that Malaysians, on the whole, have come a long way in safeguarding racial and religious harmony in the country, and setting up this consultative council will further enhance the bond between the different communities.

N.S. RAJENDRAN, President Malaysian Hindudharma Mamandram

This editorial appeared in the New Straits Times on January 20, 2010.

from BBC News
Scores die in India temple crush

At least 147 people have been killed in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, the state government says. Scores more were injured, many seriously, in the crush at the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur.

A wall near the temple is said to have collapsed, causing panic among thousands of devotees marking the start of the Hindu Navaratri festival. There have been a number of recent deadly stampedes at Indian temples. The BBC in Delhi says this is the fourth time this year that lives had been lost – probably needlessly – during a stampede at a religious festival in India.

He says crowd control at such events is usually rudimentary and the police simply not trained in effective crowd management. Last month 140 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at a mountain temple in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

The Chamunda Devi temple is inside the huge 15th Century Mehrangarh Fort, high above Jodhpur’s “blue city”. It is popular with tourists and local people – particularly at this time, the start of the nine-day festival of Navaratri.

from New Straits Times
Teacher counselled on national unity

KUALA LUMPUR: The teacher who allegedly made racist remarks has been transferred to the Selangor Education Department, holding a new position in which she does not deal with students.
She has also undergone a two-week counseling session on the importance of national unity.

As to whether she would be teaching again, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong was non-committal.

“It depends on the assessment of her counselors. So far, the reports I’ve received are good.”

She is expected to be transferred out of the state Education Department and Selangor altogether, but Wee refused to divulge her next destination.
“I cannot tell you. Morally, I should not tell you. It’s a matter of privacy.”

The 35-year-old teacher from SM Telok Panglima Garang in Banting, Klang, was previously sent to a smart school nearer to her house after she allegedly told students in a Form Four class that she “wanted to test their patience” and began using derogatory words on them.

The move to the smart school drew criticism as it was regarded as a “reward”.

Pressed to explain the move, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said last month that the transfer was because the school needed a replacement Mathematics teacher.

He had said that he would not tolerate racial abuse in schools but did not want the teacher to be falsely accused.

MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, meanwhile, was satisfied with the action taken by the Education Ministry.

However, he hoped that teachers would be trained on the sensitivities of the communities.

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Loke Yim Pheng said the union had been receiving letters, emails and phone calls from teachers about the incident.

“They told us they were not happy with the way the case was being handled and the action taken against her. Some had even given their views as to how she should have been dealt with.”

But Loke declined to elaborate on their views.

“In school, all teachers should know that they should treat all children equally.”

Asked if this was the first time such an incident had occurred, Loke said: “We have had certain problems at times but we try to solve them internally or refer them to the ministry. I think this incident has been blown up in the media.”

A psychological counsellor with the Education and Research Association for Consumers, Nanthini Ramalo, said she had come across cases where teachers of a particular race looked down on teachers and students of a different race.

Nanthini, who has been counselling teachers over the last three years, said when they sought her advice on how to cope with such situations, she told them to focus on work.

“When they complain about teachers of one race abusing students of another race, I tell them to look at all students as one.

“After all, why should you feel bad when only students of your race are victimized? It should not matter what race the student is. What matters is that a student has been victimized.

“Teachers should think of themselves as teachers first, and not as a Malay, Chinese or Indian. Problems start when they see themselves according to race.”

from ASIANAGE
Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 22: Over the past almost one year, incidents of school teachers physically abusing students of Indian origin have been on the rise in Malaysia, and in some instances, teachers even called the Indian students by derogatory names.

The school teachers have reportedly acquired the ‘hate-Indian students’ attitude after the transfer of a school teacher from a secondary school in Banting, who is now facing an inquiry after she admitted to leveling racial slurs against Indian students.

Several parents of such children here have lodged police reports since November 2007 alleging that as many as five school teachers had physically and verbally abused Indian students. R. Sathasnam, 52, said that he and another parent had complained to the school’s administration repeatedly, but the abuses still continue.

He alleged that the five teachers regularly hit the students and asked the authorities to transfer the children out of the school, as they (the teachers) were “fed-up of seeing their faces”. “One of the teachers called some Indian students derogatory names,” alleged Mr Sathasnam.

He alleged that many Indian students were slapped, kicked, punched and caned by these teachers for misdemeanours such as talking while lining-up to enter the classroom. “My 10-year-old son was lifted-up by the ears by a male teacher and slapped and kicked for talking before entering the classroom after recess in February,” staronline.com quoted Mr Sathasnam as saying.

He claimed his son’s ears turned blue-black and his cheeks swelled after the beating. When he rushed his son to the hospital, the doctor there advised him to file a police report. Another parent R. Viganaspary, 40, said her son was repeatedly hit on the head with a newspaper. —ANI

It’s a giant wheel like decoration on a wall displaying a big Sanskrit “Aum”, encircled by two rings of smaller “Aum’s”. As someone proud of being a Hindu, I would be happy to see this in a temple, a prayer hall, a meditation hall, a library or at least an office. But what offended me, and I hope every right-thinking person feels the same; is that it is one of the main decorative center-piece of a nightclub called “The Sanctuary” located at “The Curve” complex in Mutiara Damansara that has been in existence at least from 2006.

Malaysia Hindu Dharma Mamandram has informed the management of The Sanctuary nightclub of its displeasure at these adornments that is denigrating towards Hinduism. MHDM Secretary-General Ramesh Singaravelu will be personally visiting the establishment in the coming days to have a discussion as to how best to address the issue.

The plight of evicted Kashmiri Pandits, and Hindus in Fiji and Malaysia was highlighted by impassioned presentations by Jeevan Zutshi, a Bay Area community activist and Kashmiri Pandit himself; southern California-based engineer and Malaysian Tamil human rights activist Bhuvan Govindasamy; and San Francisco Bay Area-based attorney of Fiji Indian descent Sadhana D. Narayan.

The statistics are staggering: An estimated 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been hounded out of their homeland in the Kashmir valley; and Malaysia’s egregious discriminatory policies have resulted in a drop of Indian-descent student enrollment in Malaysian universities from 20 percent in 1957 to just five percent in 2003. In Fiji, harassment and discrimination has led to an exodus of Fiji Indians: From around half the population in the 1970s, the Fiji Indian population has dropped to 38 percent in 2004.

To be sure, only in Kashmir can it be argued that Pandits have been targeted because of their religion. In Malaysia and Fiji, Hindus have been part of a broader, xenophobic attack against immigrants. Malaysia’s decades-long troubled race relations led to Singapore leaving the Malay federation and a Chinese guerilla insurgency, while in Fiji, the plight of Hindus has been driven by the schism between indigenous Fijians and Indians who immigrated in the 19th century, a point made by Narayan.
Read Full Article – Human Rights Forum Highlights Hindu Minority Plight
Source: Indiawest Online

A rain shelter on the mountain path to the temple collapsed, triggering rumours of a landslide.

Many of the victims were children, trampled to death during the panic. Fifty more people were hurt and are being treated in hospital.

Tens of thousands of devotees had been gathering to celebrate the annual nine-day festival of Shravan Navratras.

An investigation is now under way into the incident at the Nainadevi temple, in the Bilaspur district, about 160km (100 miles) from the Himalayan hill town of Shimla.

Most of the worshippers are believed to be from the neighbouring state of Punjab.

Sunday crowds
Thousands of Hindu worshippers were climbing up a 4-km (2.5-mile) trail leading to the hilltop temple, chanting and singing hymns, when the stampede happened.

The rain shelter collapsed during poor weather conditions, causing widespread panic.

Children lost their grip on their mothers’ hands and were crushed under the feet of scared pilgrims attempting to leap over broken railings to save themselves, witnesses said.

Television footage showed the narrow path strewn with torn clothes and bags of flowers and offerings.

Survivors gathered at nearby hospitals looking for injured relatives.

The chief minister of Himachal Pradesh is said to have offered compensation to those injured in the stampede, and to the families of those killed.

Indian temples are regularly hit by stampedes, as huge crowds of Hindu devotees flock to make offerings at festival times.

There have been at least three fatal stampedes in the country so far during 2008, although the numbers killed were far smaller than in the latest incident.

Read Full Article – Indian temple stampede kills hundreds
Source: BBC News

The crowd began gathering outside the Banting school’s main entrance near here at noon and staged a protest for two hours. The teacher had also allegedly said that the community members were stupid and prone to thievery, the Star daily reported on its website.

The alleged incidents took place on July 17 and 22 when the teacher had allegedly beaten up some Indians students. A students also alleged in his report that the teacher had written the word ‘keling pariah’ on the board and lost her cool when the Indian students told her that they did not like being called names, it said.

Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George, who was among the protesters, said such abuse would only breed hatred and racial polarisation in schools.

“No one in his or her right frame of mind would have said these things. Given this, the best option would be for the teacher to be assigned to a desk job and not be allowed to be near youngsters anymore,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong said the schoolteacher might be sacked if the allegations proved true. “The allegations were serious as no one was allowed to insult others, especially in a school environment,” said Wee, who was asked to comment.

The ministry was awaiting an official report before taking any action, he added.

Read Full Article – Racial taunts spark protests by Indians in Malaysia – Times of India

The school, which began operating in 1946, is presently “squatting” at the Penang Indian Association building and had submitted numerous applications to the state government for allocation of land so that new premises with proper facilities could be built.

The school does not have enough classrooms. There is also no computer laboratory, science laboratory and library.

The paper also reported that the previous government under chief minister Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and former state executive councilor P.K. Subbaiyah had approved the land near a Hindu temple in the Waterfall area that was identified by the school parent-teacher association in 2005.

The Penang Municipal Council, which owns the land, had also approved the allocation for the school.

MIC president and former works minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had also obtained the necessary funds amounting to RM750,000 from the Federal Government to build the new school.

The Penang Municipal Council canceled the land allocated to the school after the recent general election.

“We have repeatedly requested the federal and provincial governments to hand over the complete temple area to the Hindus so that they can renovate and reconstruct this historical temple and perform their routine religious ceremonies, but despite our continuous requests, we have received only a quarter of the total area,” the Daily Times quoted former minority MPA Sindh Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, as saying.

Vankwani said that the temple is about three centuries old. It was last renovated by the British government in 1930, and till a few years back about a dozen statues of god Varun Rai, Shiva Ling and other statues of different gods and goddesses were kept there. Some are still present. The official records of the British government confirm the lease and the area of the temple.

“We have official copies of the record which says that the temple had a total area of 11,000 square feet,” said Vankwani. Quoting the records, he said that according to the official letter (DD-Government 1183/2/P4/172/1942, dated February 2, 1943) registered in the official book of the Government Land Record (GLR) Volume 1, the British government leased an area of about 11,000 square feet for the temple.

Manora is an island spread over 2.5 sq km on the southern side of the Karachi port and is connected to the Sandspit area by a 12-km long walkway, where this historical temple is located and till a few years ago, about 5000 Hindus were living near it. But, recently they were forced to leave the place, and thus, the population on island has dropped by half.

“In 1973, the Pakistan Navy took the control of the area by force and Hindus were restrained from visiting this temple, but when we approached the government, 2,500 square feet of the temple were returned to the Hindus and we have decided to renovate the temple, for which the community collected about Rs 7 million but recently, we were directed to stop construction and thus the boundary wall has not yet been built,” said Vankwani.

The members of the Hindu community collected donations to provide potable water, electricity and other utilities. “We are grateful to the government for giving us the main building, but for the religious ceremonies and to park vehicles, we need more space and also we request the government to provide sufficient funds for the renovation of the temple,” said Hindu leader Hari Motwani.