! & Jabir,
Agreed. I think its cool that Seelan is charting waters we dare not go. When you dare to be different, people will come after you. Just look at whats going on here http://chiatilik.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/seelan-palays-liquid-fast-before-the-malaysian-high-commission/#comments

Think this nfirdaus guy is talking to himself, trying to insinuate without proof that Seelan is an anarchist and Ti Lik is using him…. wild imagination man

He IS better than the robotic sheep that many Singaporeans are. And it is his personal prerogative to protest against that issue in whichever way he wants.

Seelan Brave? I personally dont think so. His actions are so typically singaporean: cover backside

If he would stand up for Indians in Singapore then i would call him brave. Its easy to get away with “protesting” issues outside singapore. Brave?… nay… safe

But honestly, I do think you guys (i.e. you, James and Malaysiaboleh) were way too cynical about the motives of Seelan’s protest. We don’t have enough people who’re brave enough to make a statement this way.

It is immature and ludicrous to label the critics as haters. none of the criticisms contain any hatred against anyone? everyone is simply questioning the ethnocentricism, radicalism, double standards and racism inherent in the philosophy and approach adopted by Hindraf and/or Seelan….

For years, he’s been involved in rallies against the death penalty and cruelty to animals and was actually detained briefly by the police in 2006 when he attempted to hand out information about the World Bank and IMF’s abuses.

Seelan is hungry and tired, but he’s still there (the police have issued him a warning, but they haven’t forced him to move). A number of Singaporeans and Malaysians have stopped by to support him. Several people will be camping out with him on Friday night so they can be with him when he ends his fast at 9am on Saturday.

The sad thing is that a parochial attitude towards civil rights action still persists in Singapore.

Take the issue of immigration too. It’s all been parochial at the grassroots level.

Even our bloggers, I dare say, are guilty of being parochial too. How many Singaporean bloggers actually dedicate some time to discussing global affairs or anything that doesn’t remotely concern our pocket?

Well, I may fall into that trap now and then, but I try to keep myself aware that Singapore is not the only thing on the horizon.

CR.

half of the reasons for marginalization of Indians in Malaysia maybe attributed to the economic policy (not political) of the government. but half of the reasons for marginalization of Indians in Malaysia clearly lies in the furthermore systematic marginalization of Malaysian Indians by the very largest Malaysian Indian organization Malaysian INdian Congress(MIC) led by Sami Velu, which have chosen to only represent Tamil speaking Hindus. Malaysian INdian Congress started as an offshoot of Indian’s Congress Party back then. If you look at how India’s Congress Party have worked to fill their ranks and boards with Indians from all religions, languages and ethnicity and there maybe some shortcomings but nothing as perverse as MIC which has systematically ignored several sections of Malaysian Indian community.

MIC has obtained large amounts of resources for the Malaysian Indian community from the Malaysian community over the last three decades but delibrately failed to distribute without bias across the Indian community. In provision of services too, they have chosen to work with this bias and ostracisation.

Hindraf is complaining about the representation about representation of Indians in the economy and government in Malaysia. true enough it is something to bring to everyone’s attention.. but Just look at the obvious and blatant underrepresentation representation of Indian Christians and Indian Muslims, non-Tamil Indians in MIC both in membership and board…. you dont see Hindraf talking about it… instead Hindraf is even proposing that Sami Velu be considered for DPM post in Malaysian government…

Hindraf isnt representing Malaysian Indians nor sincerely attempting to bring to attention the marginalization of Malaysian Indians… It purely wants to further the position of Tamil speaking Hindus in Malaysia and vent out its built up anger and hatred against Malays and Islam.

This is pure racism and chauvanism which is no different in character to what has been observed amongst Hindu fundamentalists in India over the last 60 years such as RSS, BJP, Shiv Shena… etc etc

This truely is not a fight for human rights…

As for choosing a Singaporean issue, such a mindset reveals only petty parochiality. When the US invades Iraq, worldwide protests are held because people understand its an important issue. Does it mean we can only condemn the Nazis if we are Germans? Similarly for Seelan, having been at the rally must have affected him as well.

An abuse of human rights, whether be it in Malaysia or Singapore is an attack against humanity. As such, why should someone be subject to ridicule or forced to address human rights issues in countries that he or she is born in? Everyone has the right to speak up against human rights violations when it happens.

is this guy fishing for a cause to fight for or fighting for a cause?

http://sophiesworld-sophiesworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/sad-day-for-malaysian-indians-part-2.html