PRESS STATEMENT
Date : 25 Oct 2008
Deepavali greetings.
This festival is associated with many legendary tales. For some people it is to mark the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile in the forest. Jains celebrate to remember the enlightenment received by their revered saint Lord Mahavira while the Sikhs commemorate it as a day when Guru Hargobind Ji, a political prisoner, was freed together with 52 Hindu kings.
Tamils celebrate it to signify the victory of good over evil.
In short our Hindu friends light rows of lamps, draw elaborate rangolis outside their homes, share sweets and food to welcome goodwill and faith. In this spirit of Deepavali, I call upon UMNO and its ruling component parties to initiate judicial reforms, make concerted efforts to wipe out corruption and cronyism, ensure freedom of the media and abstain from using preventive laws to curb dissent in the country.
Today we have arrived at a point where Malaysia has become synonymous with high-profile murders involving top leaders, the use of Internal Security Act or ISA to jail dissidents without due process, corruption by ruling politicians amounting to billions of dollars, increasing domestication of the media which is linked or owned by ruling parties and further erosion of judicial independence.
The recent arrest of a SUARAM activist for lodging a report against police abuse of power and ban on Hindraf as a threat to national security are worrying signs of a possible crackdown on civil and political liberties.
We also see the government resorting to old-hand tactics of creating a climate of fear through a play on racial sentiments. Racist remarks by government leaders are ignored, Utusan Malaysia is yet to be reprimanded for its seditious publications alluding to a well-respected lawmaker and personal friend Teresa Kok while journalists and bloggers are nabbed under the ISA.
As Deepavali dawns, I would like to urge Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to implement durable reforms and not just tinker at the margins of ineffective mechanisms which would create further political and economic instability in the country.
For a start, I call upon Abdullah to free prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the Hindraf five and other ISA prisoners.
As we partake in this celebration of lights, let us come together to demand that the government executes fundamental changes to bring about a transparent and accountable system of administration.
Let this Deepavali mark a stop to cosmetic efforts by UMNO and its ruling component parties.
On this auspicious occasion, I call upon the Indian community to stay united and work together to promote and protect the rights of Indians and all Malaysians in the wake of the economic crisis and continued harassment and marginalization of the community by the state.
Happy Deepavali.
Yours sincerely,
CHARLES SANTIAGO
Member of Parliament, Klang
25 October, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Keep up the good work Mr.Charles.
Can i have your e-mail address?
25 October, 2008 at 7:57 pm
The call for Indians to be united seems hypocrtical. It should be a call for the Tamils to be un9ited MIC’s agemda is only to look into the plight of the Tamils. There is no real concern for the needs of the other Indian ethnic groups in Malaysia even though they are a lot abler and smarter than the Tamils
25 October, 2008 at 9:15 pm
How to celebrate when our dear friends RPK, 5 HINDRAF leaders and other innocent detainees languishing in Kamunting? Best thing to do is to pray for their release and please STOP having open houses as mark of respect for our crusaders.
26 October, 2008 at 2:19 am
we cannot continue to allow the current federal government pressure and take the indian to court and jail and ISA. we have to cooperate together, indian opposition leaders, Indian NGO’s and other indian organisation must get together to pressure the federal government to put this to a stop. its time either all malaysian indians work together and cooperate or loose
13 November, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Mr Santiago,
I admire your work for your constituents and malaysians in general.
You have continuously shown in your works that you have been impartial with no hint of favouritism.
Such work across all section of communities will bode well for the political party you belong.
But your letter to the Tamils written in Tamil I find some aspects to object.
You said the State is continuosly harassing and marginanising the Tamil community. The last time I check 29% of lawyers are of Indian from Indian Community. Roughly 30% of Doctors.
The poor estate and working class Indians may face neglect but definitely not the community as a whole. The problem with that section of the Indian community is not enough education, the challenge is to provide good education so that the next generation can make the transition to middle-classhood as hundreds of thousands of Indians have done for the past 50 years.
90% of the 600,00 Indians in 1957 were tied to the estate, Today I dont think you can find 600,000 amongst 1.8 million Indians tied to the plantation sector as laborers.
Definitely my Tamillian wife’s family does not seem to have been harassed or marginalised. She had never felt she has been oppressed by the State. Her father Subramaiam worked hard to put all his children to school and today they are well adjusted in society. ANd I believe other Tamillians can do so too.
Your call for Indians to unite to fight for Indian rights does not differ from the Demogogues on the otherside of the fence.
WELL if you want to fight for Indian rights then Only Indian rights you will get nothing more nothing less, but if you fight for rights of Indians and other human beingsto be treated like any other human ought to be treated then you will get more.
Plaese dont become the self proclaimed community champion like the ones Tun Sambathan warned against on the eve of Merdeka.