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What is MIC’s stand on Vivekananda Ashram?

When Culture and Tourism Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz has come out openly and aggressively to thwart the development on the Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields, the obvious question to be asked would be where are the senior Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) leaders in this development?

 

Wasn’t M Saravanan the Federal Terrritories deputy minister for years - can’t he do something?

Or in this country, only Umno ministers really have power to affect change?

There is not a week in Malaysia where the so-called Indian leaders in government remind Indians across this wonderful nation that they have to support them, because they are the ones with the power and access to actuate change for the community.

 

Yet when the opportunity arrives for them to show their true colours, the powerful connections and influence they wield in the Najib cabinet and administration, there is a large yawn of silence.

 

A pin can drop and be heard in the present situation when it comes to the MIC leaders.

 

Was this claim of power and influence just a claim and nothing more? What is the point of having Indian leaders in the government if they are just as powerless as those outside government?

 

Can you blame Indians to move their support to Pakatan Rakyat or even to the many Hindraf parties out there, because the MIC group cannot show any courage and willingness to fight for Indian issues?

The Vivekananda Ashram has been there for more than a century. There are no symbols outside temples in Malaysia that shows an intellectual and cultural development of the Indian people in this country as much as this ashram.

 

While the Vivekananda Ashram Kuala Lumpur (TVAKL) management committee can argue that the development will not destroy the old building and the statue of Vivekananda which is what city residents recognise it by, they cannot deny the development will drastically change the site.

It will be an old building crowded out by other large buildings in its own venue.

For decades Brickfields has been a known spot in Kuala Lumpur, but only in the last decade it has become a major location with the greater development of KL Sentral.

 

With the ERL station in it, it is the doorway to the country, and that doorway is only few hundred metres from the Vivekananda Ashram.

 

It is as much a Malaysian site as much as an Indian Malaysian one, and to deny it a good independent and unique presence when so many will be passing it, is to say that a prosperous and modern Malaysia does not need an Indian cultural centre presented unhindered to the peoples of the world.

That it is not worth preserving as a heritage spot for Malaysians, and now the world.

What does Vivekananda mean to the Indian people of Malaysia?

 

The visit of Swami Vivekananda to Malaya in 1893 and the opening of the Ashram in 1904 are part of a global story-telling, it is a point of pride.

 

It shows progressive and modern Indian ideas which are universal, and preserving the ashram as is stands presents the level in which Malaysian Indian identities are regarded.

Does the MIC care?

 

Does the MIC care about these things? I wonder, especially when thinking about leaders like president G Palanivel and former FT deputy minister M Saravanan.

Are they not concerned that when there is a protest to defend the ashram it is being led by community leaders of the area and even opposition leaders like Nurul Izzah Anwar?

 

It is her parliamentary area but when we see her and only her with other Pakatan leaders like Manivanan of Kapar, we are forced to wonder if there is any life still coursing through the senior MIC leaders.

Truth is, I do not care a lot about politics, but I will remember the politicians who care about my issues. I am not alone, there are many like me.

 

I would rather vote for a non-Indian group if they are willing to defend Indian issues like the Vivekananda Ashram, and forget about MIC leaders who are only Indian by name but not when it comes to defending Indian issues.

Save Vivekananda Ashram, Save MIC!

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