45 per cent of PSD scholarships go to non-Bumis

Source : NST



KUALA LUMPUR: There is a fairer distribution of Public Service Department scholarships for all races for degree studies abroad from this year, with 1,100 going to Bumiputeras and 900 to non-Bumiputeras. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said 45 per cent of the scholarships were for non-Bumiputera students compared with 10 per cent previously.He said there were 15,220 applications for scholarships.He said the PSD sponsorship was for students who had obtained places at Ivy League universities and other institutions of the same level abroad or students doing first degree programmes at foreign university branch campuses in Malaysia, such as Monash University, Nottingham University, Curtin University and Swinburne University.From this year too, those who obtained 9As and above in the 2007 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination, will receive PSD scholarships to do Form Six at government schools, or matriculation or basic science courses at public higher learning institutions. Nazri said the government would not be increasing the number of scholarships as this depended on the government's financial capacity.



Facts :
45% Scholarships for Non-Bumi's
55% Scholarships for Bumi's

Now we dont have reason anymore for not getting PSD scholarships. Please make use of the opportunity that Malaysian Government provide to us.A great opportunity for all, dont missed it. Thank You

SPM high-achiever denied scholarship

SELAYANG: One of Selangor's top SPM students, who achieved 14As and a grade point average of 92.5 for her extra-curricular activities, is reeling in disbelief after being rejected for a Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship.

Lishaliney Uthrapathy dreams of becoming a doctor.

She had pinned all her hopes in getting the scholarship because her father, the family's sole breadwinner, is a factory worker and does not have the means to finance her entire tertiary education.

Said her mother, Amutha Subramaniam: "When my daughter chose the 14 subjects, I told her that if she studied hard, she could rest assured that her future would be taken care of."

When her daughter's excellent results came in, Amutha, 41, was overjoyed, brimming with pride as her eldest daughter had proven her academic worth.

"But our family's aspirations for Lishaliney have been shattered. The rejection is unfair and my daughter has lost all faith that what we taught her to believe is true," said Amutha, who could not control her tears during an interview with Streets recently.

Saddest of all, perhaps, is Lishaliney herself.

"When I learnt I had scored 14As, I was overjoyed. I knew I was one step closer to achieving my life-long dream of being a doctor."

The ace student then applied for a scholarship as her examination score and extra-curricular activities grade point average surpassed the qualification criteria of the PSD.

Then came the crushing rejection.

"The faith Lishaliney's parents had in the selection criteria of the scholarship has been destroyed. Not to mention, the trust in government policy," said Putera MIC chief P. Kamalanathan, who has taken an interest in the 17-year-old's case.

He said the rejection had put the government's transparency policy in question.

"Lishaliney has been unjustly treated, and I hope the PSD board will consider her appeal because she surpassed all qualifying criteria and possesses a good record of extra-curricular activities," said Kamalanathan.

On a related issue, Kamalanathan issued a press statement calling on the government to ensure that eight per cent of places in all higher education institutions are allocated to Malaysian Indians.

"Last year, slightly more than five per cent of places were given to Indians. Yet, there are many more Indians who deserve them and have met the criteria for selection. We only ask for what is ours and hope the government will be fair in the matter."

NSTP

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 6)

PUTERA MIC will introduce programmes to guide and facilitate Indian youths to excel in Education, ICT, Business and Entrepreneurial, as well as social-economic related programmes and opportunities

WANTEDGAL Says; Will introduce? I wonder when?

Madhavan Says; Same as above.

PKamalanathan’s Response; We have already started work on this. Although we are just 1 (one) year old, we have already taken some steps in realising some of the activities. We have successfully worked with the Tamil Foundation and assisted them in organising the Science Fair For Young Children. We are now in the process of organising a programme to encourage Malaysian Indian Bloggers to take up blogging. An announcement would be made soon.

We are also in the midst of organising an Entreprenuership programme amongst the Secondary Schools in the country. With the support and assistance from all my PUTERA MIC members and also friends, we are certain that we would be able to do more programmes.

I am sure with your guidance, support, encouragement and advise we would be able to do more programmes.

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 5)

PUTERA MIC provides an exposure and information on socio-political situation of our community. As such PUTERA MIC provides an opportunity for our youngsters to contribute in the process of upliftment our community's overall status.

WANTEDGAL Says; I'm getting annoyed replying to each reasons now, kamalanathan, check your blog, how often you actually provide exposure or information crap thingy you said, or even Putera MIC? community's overall status.

Madhavan Says; Our Local media is biased. any government source providing the information are also biased and usually the content is filtered to the maximum until we don’t get the real picture. on which basis are you asking us to rely on the information provided by Putera MIC ??? again here, you don’t see the big picture. we don’t want to be categorized by community or race. we are all Malaysians.

PKamalanathan’s Response; My article which was posted on the 25th May 2008 was not posted with an intention to make any one annoyed. If it did, then I am indeed very sorry. I have never claimed to be an active blogger. 3 friends thought me to blog – they are Ms. Amutha, Mr. B Mahendran and Mr. Novinthen. I call my self a ‘seasonal’ blogger and if you see my blog. it does not talk about politics at all. I just share some subjects which are close to my heart. You may also see that I do not criticise anyone. There was once I did, and I was told off by one of my close buddies that I should stay away from criticising people and that character does not suit me.

I must share with all readers PUTERA MIC is just 1 year old. We are still learning and we are in the process of implementing things. But having said that, I am indeed proud some of the achievements that we have done so far. As mentioned earlier, we were the 1st Malaysian Indian Political/NGO group to organise a Bloggers Meeting, within a year of setting-up our website (http://www.puteramic.net) we had more than 100,000 hits. NST On-line have infact singled out our role as one of the top 4 Internet TV Stations during the 12the General elections (besides PUTERA MIC, UMNO TV, PAS TV and You Tube were the others) Within such a short time – we have achieved all this.

Give us more time and you would see what we are capable off.

We have never asked anyone to be fully dependent to obtain information through us. We are not Information Ministry – what we said and what we can do is to provide exposure and information and we will just do that whenever we get information that need to be shared. We also have Information sharing system via SMS. For your information, we have also done 2 research studies, 1 study on How PUTERA MIC could help in strengthening of Tamil School is done and would be posted soon and the other study on the Recent 12th General Election is in the final process.

Yes we are all MALAYSIANS, then, why do we need to have Chinese newspapers, Tamil newspapers, Malay Newspapers and English Newspapers. Would it not be good that we only have 2 language Malay newspaper and English Newspapers? The community need to be told in its own information system, thus we have Tamil Newspapers, 2 radio stations and etc. Its not to divide, but, its to ensure that every community gets the information in a language that they are familiar with. Its not done to divide the community but it's done to ensure that all community gets the information equally.

The question now is, does it reach them or not. This is where you and we at PUTERA MIC can help and we would need all the help we can get to ensure that the community becomes not only a learned community but also a community who can survive in any situations.

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 4)

PUTERA MIC member are mostly graduates thus provides a network of professional whom can provide an effective advice and guidance on career development and employment opportunities. Ultimately, PUTERA MIC could help students or jobless graduate to secure a job.

WANTEDGAL Says; Effective advice and guidance? Graduates? Ok, how often do you update your websites; do you realize the clichés of your website? You, so called, manage Dato seri samy Vellu's portal but what the heck? Career and employment guidance, duh! You don't even update the latest government vacancies!! The last I check, none?!! None till now, employed with the help of Putera MIC. Get my record straight!

Madhavan Says: As said earlier, there are ministries specialized in these tasks. why need a separate one for Indians ? Again volunteers from all races could help in achieving this.

PKamalanathan’s Response; Let me just give a few names of whom we have helped to secure jobs. Mr. Piarapakaran – he is now employed as an Environment Manager in FOMCA, Mr. S Yogendran – he is now employed with a leading recruitment agency in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. G Parry Rajan – he is now employed with a leading multi-national which deals in telecommunication industry in Malaysia I can go on and mention a few other names.

I would like to inform here and set the record straight – PUTERA MIC members are not full time workers of PUTERA MIC. They are providing their services as volunteers in helping PUTERA MIC in achieving the vision and mission. We may not be able to update our website as often as we want to – but when it matters most, we are there. For your information, we have yet to launch Dato’ Seri S Samy Vellu’s portal and once we have launched it you will find more articles and speeches posted there.

Well, if we update the government vacancies then there will be another group of readers telling us why you are doing other people’s job.

Out of curiosity, is updating websites much more effective or moving on the ground amongst graduates and explaining to them the chances and the opportunities much more effective. We have PUTERA MIC in all the states in Malaysia and the State PUTERA MIC Leaders are on the ground and they are in contact with most of the graduates and undergraduate’s.

It is true, everybody COULD HELP. But we WILL HELP.

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 3)

PUTERA MIC could help the varsity or the college students to a get a placement for internship. PUTERA MIC will also organize programs, workshop and career fair to help and guide final year's students in interview, resume writing and many other activities to expose the student with the real working environment.

WANTEDGAL Says; Now you make me laugh sarcastically. How many students managed to do their industrial training with your help? Would not elaborate further (* I'm too tired laughing)Can you name me the main NGO that provides internship for international and local students in all the public and private universities?They have achieved a good record and well known for their their internship:)

Madhavan Says; Again you are dividing us. why are you trying to do PSD and MOHE’s job ??? Aren’t they capable of helping Indian students ? You only need some volunteers to organize programs, workshop and career fair, and not necessarily they must be a Putera MIC or an Indian.

PKamalanathan’s Response; I may not be as learned as some of you are and YES, I don’t know who is the main NGO who provides internship for international and local students and I would really like to get to know them. We work closely with some Malaysian NGO’s like Era Consumer and we seek their guidance in matching the needs of a student who wants to do internship. Besides them, I work closely with some private organisations that are willing to take in students as an intern. I am not saying we have done wonders in this area, but we are helping, not much but a little and I know students who have benefited.

As far as PUTERA MIC is concerned we help when are asked. It’s like - knock and it shall be opened, seek and you shall get. I did say we could help. Just a few names for your information, PUTERA MIC Malacca have assisted Ms. Thanaletchumi and Ms Hemalatha to get jobs with the Malacca Bio-Tech Institute and they have also assisted a gentleman by the name of Mr. John Peter to complete his Giat MARA course and now he is earning a salary RM1,500 a month.

We are not trying to do PSD or MOHE’s job and at no point of time again I did not say that they are not capable of helping. We are just helping our students who need the help, there are many students who don’t even know how to fill the forms, there are some students who don’t know what course they should apply based on the CGP Average they have – we help them and we will continue to do so.

We have organised a career fair along with a resume writing seminar last year at the Nethaji Hall, MIC HQ and we will continue to organise events of this nature.

You are absolutely correct, anyone can organise programmes, workshop and career fair, which is what is happening now. I did not say that we are the only one who is organising.

What is important at the end of the day is a Malaysian Indian student gets his/her dream achieved and as another Malaysian Indian, if we can help a little, would be good.

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 2)

PUTERA MIC will be a platform for varsity and college student to come together and share their views and ideas as well as to discuss any problems faced by the Indian Students in varsity or college. Thus, PUTERA MIC is platform for discussion and solution-finding.

WANTEDGAL Says; You guys actually will be a platform? First of all, stop using the word platform. I saw your forum and your blog, by the time you update, the news would be outdated. Your blog; what should I say!!! Come on guys, put in some effort and well, are you sure all the universities in Malaysia know you exist? I can bet yaar, do some reality check!! If you really meant what you said, provide me with the facts that under graduates knew YOU EXIST.

MADHAVAN Says; Why are you still insist on dividing us by race ? all races in malaysia has similar problem (perhaps not). This is a common issue among Malaysians and should be tackled together. Ideas should be put together , not divided by races and worked on separately !!!

PKamalanathan’s Response; It is not that we want to divide the races and at no point of time I have insisted that we want to do that in the country. If you notice I have included a picture that was taken during our ‘Bloggers Buff 2007’ and you may see in the picture above we have the participation of non-indians as well. We try our best to get the participation from all races, infact even when we organised the students’ helpline/sms/email, we had queries from non-Indian students as well and we assisted them. We want to share and learn from everyone in this country. But, our emphasis and priority are MALAYSIAN INDIAN.

As for the word platform, I am sure you know that it is being used in several different contexts, usually referring to some kind of standing surface used to support things, give them stability, or visibility. I let you be the judge in whatever context you want to brand us – we are focused and we know in which context we are operating. As for our existence in the university, YES students in the IPTA and IPTS are very well aware of our existence. For your information, Putera MIC’s Secretary was a student leader from UPSI, Perak, our Asst. Secretary was a student leader from UNIMAS - Sarawak, our Treasurer was a student leader from UUM, Kedah. Putera MIC Kedah leader is a graduate from USM – Penang, Putera MIC Perak Leader is a graduate from UTM, Putera MIC Pulau Penang Leader is a graduate from USM (Tronoh), Putera MIC Negeri Sembilan Leader is a Medical Doctor from an Indonesian University, Putera MIC Malacca Leader is an Accountant, Putera MIC Johor leader is a graduate from TAFE and Robert Gordon University. We have representation from almost all IPTA in Putera MIC and we are in the midst of getting the involvement from IPTS students as well and for your kind information more facts area available.

Having said that, we are not resting, you may have some valid points in your comments – we will work harder to ensure that we attract more graduates. But, we will not get undergraduates to join us yet as their priority is to excel in their education once their main objective in the University is done and if they are willing to join us – we will welcome them to assist us in working together in serving the society.

PUTERA MIC....... (Reason 1)

I posted an article on 25th May 2008 titled ‘PUTERA MIC….’ I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the comments from all readers. However, on behalf of the PUTERA MIC Admin, I would like to apologise to a few readers for not publishing your comments. I have taken the liberty of taking your comments and posting it here and have also included my responses to you. I hope my responses would clear some of the opinions that have been circulation on some of the blogs.

I would also like to mention here that we would continue to publish comments and please do not hesitate to post your comments.

I will be posting 8 articles (one by one) responding to the comments and I do hope it clarifies some of the misconceptions amongst readers.

Youth and our youngsters are the future leaders. PUTERA MIC will provide a platform for these young leaders to learn and enhance leadership-skills and people-manage skills.

WANTEDGAL says: Putera MIC is the platform? What actually you did? Organizing an activity once in blue moon should not be called platform. Leadership's skills? I actually think you should train your members to attend the leadership courses, teach them on communication and etc before claiming you're eligible or voice out your intention on conducting one.

Madhavan Says: Acceptable Reason.

PKamalanathan’s response; While I thank Mr. Madhavan for accepting the 1st reason. I would like to explain to Ms. WANTEDGAL we have been organising a few events and not as you have mentioned ‘once in a blue moon’. For your information, we were the 1st Indian based political organisation to organise ‘Bloggers (Discussion) Buff’ in the month of July 2007. Besides that we have also organised a Human Rights/Leadership Seminar with the assistance of ERA Consumer among the notable speakers who spoke at the seminar was Datuk’ Siva Subramaniam and Mr. Edmund Bon. We also assisted students who sat for SPM/STPM exams in making decisions on what they should do next, we also have a PUTERA MIC member by the name of V Vignes (picture above) (http://www.globalambassador.blogspot.com/) travelling the world to identify areas on how Malaysian Indian students can benefit from Universities around the world and I can go on to list down a series of events that we have organised, but would stop here for the moment.

Having said that, I welcome and accept your suggestions that we should organise more seminars on leadership and communication skills, for your information, we have listed a Public Relations Seminar for all Putera MIC National and State Office bearers, this programme is being planned to be organised in the month of August/September 2008 with the guidance and assistance from Senior Accredited Practitioners from the Institute of Public Relations of Malaysia.

Finally, I did not realise that only with leadership courses and communication classes, one can voice out the needs of the community. While I am not denying that those are important but the passion to help with sincerity and not expecting any returns should be enough to voice out the concerns of the community.

PUTERA MIC.......

Many a time I have been posed with a question ‘Why would anyone want to join PUTERA MIC?’. This question was not only posed by MIC members, this question was also posed to me from some of my friends who are not so friendly to MIC.

I think I would rather put it in record some of the reasons which should be shared amongst my other PUTERA MIC brothers so that they to can promote and explain to all why PUTERA MIC should be their option.

Like how Superstar Rajini Kanth has said once in his movie, life is divided into 8. Thus let me give you 8 reasons – WHY YOU SHOULD BE PART OF PUTERA MIC


1. Youth and our youngsters are the future leaders. PUTERA MIC will provide a platform for these young leaders to learn and enhance leadership-skills and people-manage skills.

2. PUTERA MIC will be a platform for varsity and college student to come together and share their views and ideas as well as to discuss any problems faced by the Indian Students in varsity or college. Thus, PUTERA MIC is platform for discussion and solution-finding.

3. PUTERA MIC could help the varsity or the college students to a get a placement for internship. PUTERA MIC will also organize programmes, workshop and career fair to help and guide final year’s students in interview, resume writing and many other activities to expose the student with the real working environment.

4. PUTERA MIC member are mostly graduates thus provides a network of professional whom can provide an effective advice and guidance on career development and employment opportunities. Ultimately, PUTERA MIC could help students or jobless graduate to secure a job.

5. PUTERA MIC provides an exposure and information on socio-political situation of our community. As such PUTERA MIC provides an opportunity for our youngsters to contribute in the process of upliftment our community’s overall status.

6. PUTERA MIC will introduce programmes to guide and facilitate Indian youths to excel in Education, ICT, Business and Entrepreneurial, as well as social-economic related programmes and opportunities.

7. PUTERA MIC could provide an avenue for ‘right political awareness’ especially to the youngsters as many of them are shying away from playing an active role in public life or civil society. On the other hand, political awareness/maturity is crucial to instill patriotism and nationalism.

8. PUTERA MIC will be organizing many programmes from time to time. All these programmes are meant to benefit PUTERA MIC members in many ways. From sports to intellectual related activities programmes will be conducted through out the year. As such it is also an avenue for socializing in a very positive, constructive and productive way.

I can go on and on giving many more reasons why you should join us and be part of this movement. You could also come and help us to help our brothers and sisters who are still in their primary and secondary education; you can be their mentor and guide them to be as successful as you are or probably much more successful than you are.

It is always said you can judge the communities progress based on the number or educated people in the country. Lets make the numbers.

Yours sincerely

P Kamalanathan
pkamalanathan.blogspot.com
National Coordinator
PUTERA MIC

Young professionals in MIC

Source : NST
Date : 23/05/08


The MIC will embark on a major exercise to rope in more professionals and youths to run branches in a bid to regain the Indians’ trust and confidence in the party and Barisan Nasional (BN), party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said today.He said the MIC would have to think of new strategies to woo them into the party as previous approaches might not be acceptable.Opening the Perlis MIC Convention, he said the party had set its target on young graduates.He also said the MIC would discard the “old methods” that had prevented them from voicing their ideas and dissatisfaction through the party.

"We want to allow for more voices, especially from professionals and youths, to be heard,” he said.He said this move was part of the party’s re-branding exercise launched recently.The MIC President said the time had come for the party to re-look at the way branches and divisions had been operating and to inject new dynamism and work culture among the leaders.“In the last general election, the Indians rejected us because we were seen to be ineffective, but the truth is, we fought for their rights. Our mistake was not to make use of the Internet more effectively to disseminate the correct information and to counter the many lies spread about our party,” he said.He also said it was incorrect to say that majority of the Indian voters voted for the opposition in the last general election."They voted against us because they were frustrated with BN for not doing enough,” he said.

Samy Vellu said it was found that 60 per cent of the Indian voters voted for the BN in the last general election compared to almost 85 per cent Indians who voted for the coalition in previous general elections.He said what the party needed to do know was to stop the “soul searching’ process and the “denial syndrome” and get on with the job of rejuvenating MIC.He also said the MIC would give its “full backing” to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to fulfil the pledges made by BN in the last general election.

“This is our priority now. We want the government to honour all its pledges made in the Ninth Malaysia Plan for the Indians,” he said, adding that by doing so, it would regain the Indians’ trust in the government and BN.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This statement strongly states that, youths are the back bone in MIC in order to keep the organization to perform better in whole so that it serves its function by providing its best services to the Indian community. Professional youths are so much needed in the organization, hence to generate new and brilliant ideas to make changes for our community.

So dear youths, the situation is alarming, don’t delay, this is a wakeup call, lets work together in serving for Malaysian Indian community. Unity thru MIC

Putera MIC - Seeking opnion

Creating the 'UNITY' among Malaysian Indian Students Overseas

I am a Malaysian student studying in South India and I am glad to say that we have formed an organization mainly for all the Malaysian Indians studying abroad. The main purpose of the organization would be to look into the welfare of our students as we assist them in various ways though the embassy and organize celebrations such as Deepavali, Ponggal and etc which is mainly to UNITE our Malaysian Indians.

To date, i can say that almost all the students know each other no matter where they are and very cooperative towards helping each other.
This has created an Unity among The Malaysian Students in Chennai.

I would like to suggest to form the same UNITY for all our Malaysian Indian students who are studying overseas in order to stay united from now onwards and form a professional networking opportunity among us.

Therefore, I wish to seek your kind opinion on how shall we form and work on this.

Besides tht, i would also like to know HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A ROLE IN THIS MATTER....?
Looking forward to hear from you....

Thank you.

Regards
E.Venkates Rao
Chief - PuteraMIC Chennai / South India
Chairman - International Chapters

you may also reach me at:
016 6377005
venkates@myjaring.net

Samy Vellu appeals on behalf of Indian top students for PSD scholarships

Source :NST / The star

PUTRAJAYA: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu today met Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan to appeal on behalf of 187 Malaysian Indian high achievers who were denied Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships this year.
Samy Vellu said of the 187 students, three had scored 12A1, seven 11A1, 68 10A1, 66 9A1 and 43 8A1 in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.“I explained to the Chief Secretary on the need to help these students. This is in line with our aspiration to create at least two professionals in every Indian family in the country.“He was very receptive and has promised to do his best to help these students who have excelled in their studies,” he said.Currently, only 72 Indian students had received PSD scholarships of the 2,000 scholarships offered.
Samy Vellu said MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is also Human Resources Minister, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S.K. Devamany and MIC Education Bureau chief Prof Datuk T. Marimuthu would meet PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam later today on the matter.“We are taking a two-pronged approach to solve this problem. We believe some of the 187 students will be reconsidered for the scholarships,” he said.



Fact's

187 Malaysian Indian high achievers who were denied PSD scholarships this year
187 Indian Students =Three 12A1, seven 11A1, 68 10A1, 66 9A1 43 8A1 in SPM
72 Indian students had recevied PSD scholarships of the 2,000



Comment's Apporved to This Post

Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)'s New Face

14 May 2008, Dato Seri S.Samyvelu has come with few plans on rebranding Malaysian Indian Congress party and the members to improve their services to Indian community. Rebranding includes:

1.New MIC Logo
2.New MIC Song
3.New Tag Line : New Generation party/ Parti generasi Baru
(MIC Cares will remain as permanent Tag)
4.50% of membership in MIC will be fulfill by Youths
5.New Uniform : For Putera,Puteri,Pemuda,And Wanita MIC
6.New MIC Branch
7.MIC Call Center : Will be handling by 2 or 3 University
graduates
8.New and Upgraded MIC portal with Online Forms, E-Forum and E-Complain system
9.MIC RoadShow : Visit All over Malaysia, and Workshops for Indian Community to tell them about the MIC Rebranding. This process will take over district by district.

More news to come.Tq

10A1s students should be automatically offered PSD scholarships

Source : The star



PETALING JAYA: Students who score 10A1s and above in their SPM examinations should be automatically offered Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships, MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said.He said such a policy would ensure that these students, regardless of race and background, were not sidelined appropriately rewarded for their academic efforts.Dr Subramaniam, who is also Human Resources Minister, said parents would have a negative perception of the government if such a system was not implemented.
He said some 140 students who excelled in SPM had approached the party to support their PSD scholarship appeal after being rejected on various grounds this year."The PSD should give a clear explanation to the public on their selection criteria for scholarship recipients," he said in a statement Friday. . Dr Subrmaniam said the Education Ministry should also limit the number of subjects allowed to be taken by students, adding that some schools offered a maximum of 10 subjects while others allowed up to 17 subjects.He suggested that the ministry offer separate certificates for additional subjects other that the compulsory subjects in the examination.



Facts
34 (12A1) indian offred PSD scholar (From 2007 SPM result)
192 appeal case compiled in MIC

Give Indians more PSD scholarships Urges Samy Velu ~ The Star 13/5/2008

SCIENCE FAIR FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

It was during my drive back from AIMST University, Sungai Petani, Kedah I realised how important was PUTERA MIC’s decision in supporting and assisting in the organising of the Science Fair for Young children.

At the moment of the time I was thanking my good friend Dr. Yunus Yasin for introducing PUTERA MIC to the Science Fair.

It has been a whole new experience for me and my colleague at PUTERA MIC. Why not? As we are the 1st Malaysian Indian Political Party to be involved and working together with some well renowned NGO’s in the country in organising an unique and exemplary project.

My first reading about the Science Fair for Young Children was in 2007 – it was at that time I told my self, it would be wonderful if PUTERA MIC could work on this project (at that time, it was just a wish) but never did I realise that PUTERA MIC would be part of it and besides thanking GOD I must thank CCI (Centre for Community Initiatives) & TAMIL FOUNDATION for giving us this opportunity and off course through Dr. Yunus Yasin.

Now after witnessing 2 events organised by PUTERA MIC Kedah and PUTERA MIC Johore – I dare say it was one of the best decision which we made and have no regrets.

To see a child presenting their research and explaining how they worked hard to see the results is actually a scene that can never be forgotten and on top of that, students have actually mastered the English language so well.

While we can go on and talk, shout and even demonstrate on the reducing numbers of Tamil School in this country, we must also work on areas that can actually develop the minds and thoughts of a child in the tamil school.

We need to find ways on how we can create confidence within the students.

We need to give them an opportunity to express their opinion via education.

We need to create platform for the students to excel.

We need to encourage, motivate and let them know that we would not mind being a bridge for them for the educational successes.

But, SERIOUSLY – HOW MANY OF US ARE DOING THAT?

We in PUTERA MIC are very committed in creating the confidence within the students, we want to give them an opportunity to excel via education, we want to be one of the platform providers along with many other good hearted Malaysian Indians for their education excellence and we want to motivate, encourage and we want to make them top be the best.

Thus, we have now created a new idea – TO CREATE A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER AMONGST THEM – Its not just a dream it’s a reality if we put all our energy and resources together.

Please help us to help them.

Yours sincerely

P Kamalanathan

National Coordinator

PUTERA MIC

Early marriage among Indian teenagers

Early marriage is becoming a norm among our Indian teenagers.Statistics shows that 43% of our Indian community are getting married earlier than other races. This is time in depth discussion in this serious issue.

There are two types of teenage marriages – one with parents’ permission and another without.

With parents’ permission


When there is a case of our student getting pregnant while in school, the community resorts into getting them to either abort the baby or marry the man responsible. This is also true among school-dropouts and those who just completed their studies. Why do our students fell in this trap?

Some parents are also to be blamed for pushing their teenage children especially the daughters to get married early, supposedly to make sure that they are alive to see the wedding of their children. However, they failed to realize that the daughters may have a brighter future on their own – maybe getting a good education and career if left on their own.

Without parents’ permission

Mostly it will be case of runaway teens, a scenario that seems to be pretty common in the community. Influenced by their boyfriends and in some cases, girlfriends, they took off from home, get married in secluded temple, have kids and then come back home, hoping that their parents will forget and forgive. Most of them do not register their marriage citing the complication involved in it, especially in teen marriages. Customary marriage is seen as an ideal alternative.

However, there is a risk of such marriages to turn ugly. Once the romance withered off, some men just leave their teen wife or push them into vice. Although we are not proposing that every runaway teen will end up in the street, such cases do occur. These young girls, unable to go back to their own family resorts stays for years in sex trade.

True incidents

Incident #1

In Selangor, a girl who ran away with her boyfriend when she was only 18, only to be found again by her parents few days later. She was then married off to a man of the family’s choice in hush hush manner. Now, at the age of 18, she is taking care of her new husband who has a stall in pasar malam besides tending to her in-law family which consists of about 7 members.

Can a young girl like her able to shoulder such heavy responsibility? How her future is going to be? Will it be a wise move if the parents actually sat and talked to her boyfriend and asked them to wait instead?

Incident #2

In Johor, a 20 year old girl ran away with her boyfriend, only to be sold to prostitution for RM3000. Although her family tried every means to get in touch with her back, they failed. All they got back was a phone call from her requesting them not to look for her anymore.

While we have to agree that not every teenager who got married early ended up in misery, not everyone tend to live the life they dreamed of. There are more stories to be unearthed for sure and if you have details of any such case, please come forward and share it with us. We have the social responsibility to show the right path to our teens and we want to do just that.

Does Tamil cinema have a part in influencing our teens to run away from home?

Do most parents think that a daughter should be married off earlier?

How could we overcome this problem?

Are seminars, forums and counseling sessions enough to motivate our students?

Happy Mother's Day 2008

Mother's day wishes from Putera MIC Team

Science Fair for Young Children

Date :11th May 2008 (Sunday)
Time :9.00am
Venue: Sultan Iskandar Hall, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia ,
Johor Darul Takzim

YOUTHS TURNED THEIR BACK TO MIC ?

Dear Mr. Punithan Shan & Mr. Durai,

Greetings and Vanakkam to you.

First let me thank both of you for visiting puteramic.blogspot.com and commenting as well. You have raised some important issues of which I will try my best to respond.

You did mention “we witnessed that today's Indian youths had turn their back to MIC”. I agree and disagree with the statement and let me explain.

Why I agree?

It is true that Youths are not to keen to be directly involved in politics and they prefer to be actively involved in NGO. I am not saying that it’s wrong for them to be involved in NGO, as, I am a strong believer that irrespective where we are and who we represent - what is important is in the delivery and we must be result oriented. As long as you can help an Indian in some way, I think that would be great.

Why I don’t agree?

For your information, at this point of time we have more than 3,000 members in Putera MIC out of which 80% of them are graduates. Also for your information, the minimum requirement to be a Putera MIC state leader is to have a first degree and all Putera MIC State Leaders have met those criteria and not only that all the National Council Members of Putera MIC also have met those criteria.

I am also indeed please to inform you, we have Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Technicians, Administrative Experts and celebrities who have joined us as Putera MIC members.

Having said all that, you may wonder what on earth we have done to get so many Young Indian Professional/Graduates with us. To give you an honest answer – We do work quietly and at times when we do our work quietly many think that we are not doing anything.

Maybe the time is up for us to shout and tell the whole world what we have been doing.

Just for your information, we have been involved in the Annual Meeting with the Universities Students to get their inputs and ideas at the same time we try our best to assist them in overcoming their issues.

Besides that, from the day we have existed, we have without fail assisted SPM and STPM students in giving them guidance in securing a place for them in the local U’s, we will give all our best and go anywhere we need to go if there is a need. Off course, all this would not be mentioned to all and we do not expect any one to thank us for all this – all we want is to make another Indian Student happy.

Right now we are working closely with CCI Foundation, Tamil Foundation and other NGO’s as well in organising a Science Fair for Young Children.
I must say besides Education, we are very much ahead in the ICT World, we started our Website one year ago and we have more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world visiting our website. We were the first Indian based political entity to organise a Bloggers Meeting which was attended by more than 40 bloggers – We started to talk about Blogging even before the 12th GE and now everyone is talking about it. I am also proud to share with you that we are the 1st Indian Based Political entity to have our own Internet TV.

My Dear Friend,

Please give us a chance to prove our worth; after all we are just one year old. In the meantime, if you have a suggestion, please do let me know.

I do hope, my reply to you both was not rude. We have plans; I don’t dream just about anything, I dream of things that I can do. I know I can do wonders with my brothers in Putera MIC as they have shown their commitment and also their support towards this moment. If you are kind and you have the time PLEASE JOIN US.

Yours sincerely

P Kamalanathan
National Coordinator
PUTERA MIC

Partially-aided Tamil schools need help too

Source : TheStar, Monday, 5 May 2008

TAPAH: The Government should stop using the excuse that it cannot help 373 Tamil schools because they are partially aided.MIC central working committee member Datuk M. Saravanan, who is also Deputy Federal Territories Minister, said the Government should not run away from its commitment to build or upgrade these schools because of their status.Of the 523 Tamil schools in the country, 373 are partially-aided and built mostly on private land, he said.“One of the reasons we lost the support of the Indian community was because the Government could not understand our needs and wants,” he told reporters yesterday.“The Indian community is not asking for mega projects like the Twin Towers. We want Tamil schools, temples and jobs in the public sector.“Is it so difficult for the Government to help the 373 partially-aided schools?”On Saturday, Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong said ministry officials were meeting school directors and supervisors for their feedback on the status of 523 Tamil schools in the country.

Facts:
1. 523 Tamil Schools In Malaysia
2. 373 Tamil Schools partially - aided / On Private Land

Science Fair for Young Children

Johor PUTERA MIC in collaboration with Sri Murugan Centre, UTHM, UTM and IPTI are organizing a Science Fair for Young Children on 11th May 2008 (Sunday) at 9.00am in Sultan Iskandar Hall, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

So johor all Citizens are welcome and join us to make the science Fair a succesfull program.

For more info Kindly visit http://www.puteramic.net for more information. Thank you

Something "BIG" For Bloggers?

Dear bloggers, Putera MIC is coming with something "big" for all the Indian bloggers in Malaysia.. Can you guys guess what it is?. stay TUNED with Putera MIC>