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Friday, 10 April 2009

MAIKA HOLDINGS – THE SUFFERINGS OF THE POOR

Samy Vellu says MIC is the only entity that can help Malaysian Indians. He said he lives and breathes for Malaysian Indians. He says he spends every moment awake trying to help the community. He says he dedicated his life in the service of the community. When invited to Tamil schools, Samy Vellu and his stooges will say that Tamil education is more important than anything else in their life. They live to help the Tamil schools they say.

That is what they tell us!!!!! Reality however, is completely different and will hit you hard when you least expect it. The reality is; Samy Vellu and his MIC, has, swindled, cheated, robbed and slaughtered the future of the Malaysian Indian community for their personal benefit. The MIC has devoured every economic benefit the community gets just like a greedy pig devours all the swill it can get. All the sins they committed is finally getting to them. At 73 years old, Samy Vellu knows that he is living on borrowed time. He knows that he will die sooner rather than later. He also knows that for all the sins he has committed, there is no chance in hell that he’s going to heaven. His evil karma and the curse of all those suffering Indians will ensure that his afterlife will be HELL for sure.

What will a person who has thrived in bribery and corruption all his life try to do to escape punishment? He will most definitely try to bribe his way out. But in Samy Vellu’s case, to escape from hell, he cannot bribe the cops or the judges. In order to escape the punishment of HELL, Samy Vellu has to pray and bribe the GODS in order to clean his evil karma. Can anyone bribe GOD? Samy Vellu thinks so and that is surely what he is doing. Some of you will say there is no proof of this. Read on and you’ll get the proof you want:

I went on a 4 week vacation to Tamil Nadu, South India for a pilgrimage and vacation. I very much wanted to visit the famed Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple with 4 giant entrance gateways (Raja-Gopurams). I spent 5 days and 4 nights in the temple town of Madurai and used almost all the time I spent there from morning to evening to explore the temple. The huge 2 acre temple was undergoing extensive renovation in preparation for a huge once in 12 years “Kumbabhisegam” festival. Most of the visitors will go into the temple, pray, and spend little time in exploring the holy place. With time in my hand, I explored the temple and on the third day, I stumbled into the little used outer courtyard of the temple. Even though thousands of visitors were in the temple, I was the only one walking around the outer courtyard. While doing do, my sight fell on a huge banner that lists out the major donors for the temple renovation and it surprised me. The following pictures will tell you why:

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Image 1: Banner placed just inside South Tower Entrance of Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

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Image 2: Close-up of banner shown in Image 1 [Please check donor No.3 - In red box]

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Image 3: Banner placed just inside North Tower Entrance of Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

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Image 4: Close-up of banner shown in Image 1 [Please check donor No.3]

Check out donor No. 3 in both banners. It basically says:

The donor for South Nine Tier Gopuram (Rajagopuram) Dato Shree S. Samivelu, P.W.D. Minister, Malaysia.

The amount donated: Rs 27.00 LAKHS. (2,700,000 Indian Rupees)

To the best of my knowledge, before the 12 th General Election in March 2008, The Public Works Minister (PWD) of Malaysia is Dato Seri Samy Velu. No? A picture speaks a thousand words and in this case, it really does isn’t it? In case any of you reading this are “blind” to see the obvious (MIC members especially). Let me summarize what the picture is telling us:

Samy Vellu donated Rp. 2,700,000 to renovate the South Tower of Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple.

Based on the current exchange rate, Rp. 2,700,000 is equivalent to RM 194,500.00

In other words, Samy Vellu offered bribe to Goddess Meenakshi to the tune of RM 194,500.00

The “donation/bribe” was an inducement to try to wash away some of his sins and evil karma to ensure that his soul will not have to face punishment of HELL FIRE in the afterlife.

Did he buy a peaceful life now with the bribe? I don’t think so. Could there be more such acts of trying to wash away his sins? I think so.

Note:

For anyone visiting the temple and want to verify what I said here, the banners can be seen just inside the North and South tower of the temple. As soon as you go through the main Rajagopuram of either the North or South Tower, stop and look up; directly on the next gopuram, you can see it. (Do not walk straight into the second gateway, or you will miss it). Many of those who visited will look straight into the temple as expected and walk through the next gateway. That is exactly what I did in the first three days even when I used the North entrance everyday. Only in the 3 rd day, did something prodded me to walk around the sandy outer corridor and made me notice the banner; and here I am writing this. For all I know, as soon as Samy Vellu or his stooges reads this article; he will request the temple committee to remove the banners. So you better hurry.

Some questions here:

Didn’t Samy Vellu say that he is doing everything in his power to help Tamil schools?

Didn’t Samy Vellu say that he even gives out his own money on occasions to help out Tamil schools?

Well, take a look at what some rural Tamil schools look like:

If Samy Vellu is sincerely concerned about the dilapidated condition of Tamil schools, he would most certainly use the RM 194,500.00 to build decent classroom block in a Tamil school. No? Go figure…. Why is Samy Vellu more concerned in trying to wash away his sins than helping to rebuild ramshackle Tamil school structures? The answer lies in the fact that he realized the magnitude of untold sufferings he inflicted on millions of Malaysian Indians in his greedy pursuit of wealth and obnoxious lifestyle. He has incurred their wrath and curse and are now trying desperately to neutralize the effects.

Samy Vellu did many things to get himself wealthy. The siphoning off of the Maika funds is his brainchild.

What happened to the investors of MAIKA Holdings? I would like to relate a personal encounter with a man whose whole family was dealt an extremely painful blow for the fatal mistake of investing in MAIKA holdings. “I met Uncle Raju a decade ago in a golf resort while attending a company event. He was the gardener in the resort. During my 4 day stay there I came to know him well through our nightly conversations and he seemed to me to be highly knowledgeable to be your average gardener. I had to prod him to talk about his life’s experience.

He told me that he was born in a plantation, a considerably huge estate with several divisions. He was the 4 th generation of his family to be born in that estate. His great-great grandfather came to the estate as a laborer while the estate was being developed out of virgin jungle he tells me. Subsequently, his great grand father, his grandfather, his father, he and his 4 children were born in that very estate. Needless to say, his family had a lot of emotional attachments to the place. He described some of the stories he heard from his grandfather and father, of all the joys of his childhood. Talking about his younger days brought a sparkle into his dull eyes; he talked about the estate temple and the many activities related to the main temple. His recollection of his younger days tells me the importance of temple activities in the plantations at a time when TV/Radio etc are almost nonexistent.

When I asked him what he liked most about the estate he lived in, he told me about the family shrine situated on a small mound not far from their line housing (For those who originated in the estates, we call this “layam”). The family shrine was put up by his great-great grandfather and over time, they had improved on it. The daily evening activities of following his father to the shrine are the moments he cherished the most. While his father cleans the shrine, he enjoyed playing in a small stream running alongside, catching the small fishes and releasing them back into the stream. His was an enjoyable childhood no doubt in spite of the poverty they lived in.

He studied in a Tamil school till he was 10 years old and had to stop his education because the secondary school is too far away from their division. Transportation was not available at the time, and neither could their family afford it even if transportation service is provided. The managers/clerks children were provided free transportation to the secondary schools but not the laborers children. With nothing else to do, he joined the estate workforce. His family worked hard to climb out of the prison of poverty. Overtime, his father managed to buy 4 cows from the family savings. Their families economic well being slowly improved, their meager wages from the plantations being supplemented by selling the milk from the cows.

His father passed away, when he was in his mid 20’s and he became the head of the family. He and his wife worked harder to ensure a better future for their children by sending them to secondary school and made them study hard. His eldest son, a bright one obtained good grades and teachers advised him that he ought to save some money and send his son for further studies. In those days, Australia provided free education. All the

parents had to do was save some money to pay for the air ticket and a couple of months lodging, the rest of their stay can be supported by working part time. Uncle Raju made up his mind that even if his son, could not go overseas to study, he will still go to a local university. For him, this chance was a golden opportunity to get their family out of the estate life; his whole family toiled on the idea. Overtime, their cattle herd grew to around 30+ and he had some money saved for his son’s studies.

One day, some people from MIC came to their estate with tales of a fabulous scheme initiated for the upliftment of Indian economic status. They regaled the simple estate folks with tales of extraordinary returns for their investments. It would be extremely foolish for anyone not to invest in MAIKA they said. They brought in speakers from outside to get people to invest whatever they had. They gave a rosy picture of a golden future for the Indian community through MIC initiated MAIKA Holdings. The scoundrels from MIC exhorted those who did not have any savings to take loans and invest the money. Even if the interest rate is high, the returns from MAIKA will be

more than enough to repay the loans and give them a substantial return. The simple minded estate folks swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Those who did not have any money took loans with exorbitant interest rates.

Often times, the same MIC linked people are the ones acting as money lenders. God knows how many was deceived like this. But the Raju family did not want to take a loan. They had a small amount saved for their children’s education. Although initially hesitant to invest, peer pressure and the prospect of getting more returns compared to the bank

interest, they made the decision to invest all their savings. It was not enough for the crooks from MIC, one day, a friend of his; an MIC man approached him and asked him to invest more. Even if he didn’t have anymore money, he was asked to sell his cattle and invest the money too. After all, the devil from MIC argued, his son has two

more years to finish his secondary school. In two years, their investment can almost double the amount and ensure an easier passage for his sons education. Although hesitant at first, the golden promises from the MIC had its effect. Even Samy Vellu, the president of MIC came to the estate and regaled the folks with golden promises; saying he lives and breathes for the Indian community and that MAIKA will be the best thing that ever

happened for the Indians in Malaysia. Samy Vellu made a personal guarantee that they will get more than double their money in a few years. The day after Samy Vellu’s visit, he made the fatal decision to sell off his cattle. That day, the fate of his family was sealed. Two weeks later lorries came to take their cows away, his whole family cried when the cows were loaded onto the lorries. His children pleaded with him not to sell the

cows; after all, the cows had become a part of their family for decades. He stood still, with tears in his eyes, but content that he made the right decision for the sake of his children’s future. He was convinced that his investment in MAIKA will return profits that his milk business could never do; hence the painful decision of selling off their cattle herd. All in, he invested around RM 19,000; a huge amount for a simple estate worker.

Everything went downhill from there for Uncle Raju and his family. He spoke about how people who borrowed money for high interest rates from the money lenders were hounded by their creditors. Unable to face the constant humiliation of the money lenders harassing them to pay up, most of them left the estate hastily overnight, without any idea of where they are going to go or what to do. One person he knew was driven to

commit suicide. He only spoke of his family’s suffering after much hesitation.

His family was devastated after it became evident to them that Samy Vellu and his MIC stooges have swindled all their hard earned money. Disillusioned with the complete annihilation of a lofty dream for his family, Uncle Raju went into depression. Only the love of his wife and the constant care of his children kept him going. His only

salvation at the time was spending time near his family shrine. He will climb the small mound to the shrine daily and spend most of his time there. He could no longer do his normal work; hence unable to put food on the table. As a result of this, his eldest son, had to quit school and take over his father’s job as tractor driver in the estate to keep the family going.

Uncle Raju’s family was on the verge of escaping from the dungeon of poverty. Uncle Raju’s great-great grandfather started life in the estate, his great-grandfather built the foundation, his grandfather and father built on it heavily and developed the family’s economic strength and finally Uncle Raju worked extremely hard to ensure his son will get the education he deserves and that education would have been the passport for their escape from poverty. In a year, his son would be going to university. After completing his studies, his son needs no longer work in the estate. That will be the final severance of their family from the estate life that has kept 5 generations of his family in bondage of poverty. Then came in Samy Vellu, MIC and Maika Holdings with their golden promises. The trust that Uncle Raju put in the scoundrels was paid with betrayal. Their trust was paid with the complete destruction of the cumulated efforts of 5 generations of Uncle Raju’s family to break out from the bondage of poverty.

The very son, that Uncle Raju had so much hope for; the very son he wanted to send overseas to study; the very intelligent young boy who could have gone to Australia to study accountancy, engineering, law or other professional studies; had to sacrifice his dreams, quit school and become a tractor driver.

ALL THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THEY TRUSTED SAMY VELLU AND HIS MIC.

But things did not end there, a few years later; the plantation was gazetted for development. For the families that lived there for generations, it was a mortal blow to their spirits. For most of them, the estate was all they knew. Each family was promised a flats house, not for free, but with low monthly payments, and nothing else. Then after the union made some noise, a token amount of goodwill money was given to them. Everything that Uncle Raju knew of the estate where he was born, grew, and spent decades of his life in, was about to be destroyed. Lands were cleared for bungalow houses and a golf resort. Yes! Its the same golf resort in which I met Uncle Raju in. The area of their line houses became the club house and the area of the family shrine, dotted with streams, brooks and a small lake became part of an idyllic golf course. The son got a job as an excavator operator in the same development project.

Uncle Raju’s family had no other choice but to go to their new flats and continued on with their life. While their estate housing was small, the areas surrounding the houses are a wide open environment. Their new flats housing was not much bigger that their estate house, this is compounded by the confined spaces of the flat units. They only have the corridors outside the house to compare with the wide open field in front of their estate house. Having lived all her life in the estates, Uncle Raju’s wife, could not adjust to life in the cramped environment of the flats houses. She frequently fell sick and her health, slowly deteriorated. The whole family was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. They wanted to move out of the flats house, but they have nowhere else to go. Uncle Raju, approached his friend, (the MIC man who brainwashed him to sell off his cattle) for help in getting a unit of rumah perumahan rakyat (rumah murah) terrace house. The man said such houses was available, but Uncle Raju must come up with RM 10,000 as a special fee in getting the unit. The special fee is actually a bribe. This shows how cruel some friends can become.

The government built the “rumah murah” to be sold to the poor with low down-payment and minimal monthly payments. The quota for the Indian poor was given to MIC to be allocated to the poor. The bastards used even this to make money. They demanded thousands of ringgit just to allocate houses to the poor people. On top of this, the poor must also pay the down-payment and the monthly payments. In short, a RM25,000 house, will easily cost around RM 38,000 with the middle men (MIC crooks in this case), getting richer by RM8,000 to RM 10,000 per unit.

Unable to come up with the amount, the family had no choice but to continue staying in the flats. Finally, after nearly two years living in the flats, his wife passed away. After the passing of his wife, Uncle Raju could not bear to live in the same place in which he saw her suffering so much. A feeling of intense guilt overwhelmed him every time he looked at the place where his wife spent the last few months of her life resting on the bed. Unable to take the torment any longer, Uncle Raju, implored his son, to try to get him a job in the golf resort. He argued, at least he will be nearer to the place he loved so much and being away from the house will also help him overcome the painful memory of his wife’s suffering.

Through a friend, the son managed to get Uncle Raju a job as a gardener with an accommodation in the workers quarter; where an old acquaintance also from the estate worked as a gardener. I met Uncle Raju about a year after he started working in the golf resort. I had a chance to meet his son the next day when he brought dinner

for his dad. I felt sad thinking of how cruel fate had been for the young man.

On the 3 rd evening, Uncle Raju showed me around the golf course. He pointed out to me some areas of the golf course and what stood there when the whole place was an estate. He showed the place where the estate temple stood. The place where their cow shed once stood is now a landscaped garden, etc. Finally he brought me to a mound and said this is the place where he spends during the evenings after work. I understood that this was where their family shrine once stood. We climbed the mound and he pointed out the exact spot where their shrine was built. I noticed that while pointing to the spot, he touched it very gently; almost caressing the ground with utmost reverence. He told me how at times; some golfers will tee-off from the mound and trample all over the ground he loves the most, and how hurting it will be for him to see all that. He took all that hurt in a painful

silence. Once again he narrated his happy moments at the place, of the times gone by, the times of happiness; tears welled in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. I turned the other way, pretending not to see him crying. His dignity is the last shred of possession he has and I did not want him to realize that I saw him cry. We went to a nearby “pasar malam” that night and the fine old man flatly refused my offer to pay for his meals. Before leaving the next afternoon, I went to see Uncle Raju, talked to him a few minutes and said my goodbye.

That was the last time I ever saw him. Around a year later, I happened to drive by the golf resort and decided to drop in to see Uncle Raju. I was informed by a worker that Uncle Raju had passed away 4 months earlier. When I asked how, the young man directed me to another elderly man who must have been close to Uncle Raju. He told me that one night, Uncle Raju complained of feeling very uncomfortable. When urged to go to clinic, he refused and said he will be fine and told him that he is going to take a walk to his favorite mound. He never returned; the next morning, while searching for him, they found Uncle Raju at the foot of the small mound. The doctors said he died of a heart attack. Uncle Raju must have realized that his time was nearing, and he must have wanted to end the last moments of his life at the place which have given him so many cherished moments.

He must have suffered the heart-attack and became too weak to climb the mound. Finally he must have made the effort to get as close as he can to his “shrine”, and he must have used the last of his strength to make it to the foot of the mound. Uncle Raju knew only poverty all his life. He made a spirited fight against the oppression of poverty and was on the verge of succeeding; only to be pushed back into the darkness by Samy Vellu and his Maika Holdings.

What you just read is the suffering of only one of Maika’s investors. There were 66,400 people who were duped to invest in Maika and then betrayed. Of the investors, some may have suffered less that Uncle Raju and some may have suffered more. One thing is certain though, every investor would have suffered a lot. The collateral damage to the investor’s families would have been more. Samy Vellu and his cohort of greedy scoundrels who swindled the money are the ones left happy while 66,000+ Indians cried in silence.

After all that happened, it amazes me to still see some people tell everyone within earshot that MIC leaders have nothing but compassion and concern for the Indian community. As far as I am concerned, MIC is no more different than a pig sty. If any of you still want to remain in MIC and cause more destruction to the community, then, surely you are also turning into the occupants of the pig sty called MIC.

article received by email , may not reflect the personal view of MP Kapar .

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