Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan went deep into the issue of land for the 98 Tamil schools in Selangor with party supremo Anwar Ibrahim in Sibu on Sunday night.

NONE This was on the sidelines of preparations for the forthcoming by-election in Sibu.                            

The other equally important issue that came up in Sibu was the question of reserve land for the Orang Asli in  Selangor.

“Anwar has to take up the land issues with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim,” said Jeffrey ( right ) on his return to Kota Kinabalu yesterday evening.

“Let’s hope that the Selangor state government will soon make an announcement on land for the Tamil schools and the Orang Asli.”

A resolution on these land issues would certainly help Pakatan's Hulu Selangor candidate Zaid Ibrahim. Finally, it appears that Anwar has agreed to sit down with Khalid to resolve these longstanding issues.

In the case of the Tamil schools, it appeared that the MIC had swept the problem under the carpet for the last 50-odd years, while the Orang Asli land problem appears to have been compounded by the community losing faith in the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA).

One issue that worries the state government, according to Jeffrey, is that the Tamil schools want the land to be alienated to the Education Ministry. This will make the Tamil schools eligible for federal government aid, grants and loans like other public schools in the national education system.

“The state appears to be loathe to hand over its land to the federal government which is run by the BN,” said Jeffrey. 

But he thinks that it would be bad politics to promise that the issue will be resolved if and when Pakatan seizes the reins of power in Putra Jaya.

The Selangor government is reportedly more inclined to go along with land for the Tamil schools provided that any such alienation remains private and leaves the land within its jurisdiction.

“But the Tamil schools don’t want to remain private. What good would it do if they remain private?" asked Jeffrey. "What they want is federal government aid, grants and loans.”

The issue of land is dominating efforts by Jeffrey to win the support of Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM) for Zaid in the forthcoming Hulu Selangor by-elections.

hindraf btn 151209 uthayakumar HRPM pro-tem secretary-general P Uthaya Kumar ( right ) has made state land for all the Tamil schools in Selangor as the minimum condition before he throws his support behind the Pakatan candidate. In his words, he has over 100 issues to take up with the state government on behalf of the Indian Malaysian community but for the moment he’s willing to settle for the resolution of one.

This is highly unlikely to happen.

'Zaid is a good man'

“What makes it doubly difficult is that Uthayakumar wants the state government’s commitment in black and white,” disclosed Jeffrey.

Uthayakumar sees no reason why Tamil schools cannot be sited on their own land just like the Malay, national, religious, mission, Chinese and other national schools.

One sticking point during the Sibu discussions was Anwar pointing out that land alienation could not be done overnight. He complained that Uthayakumar expects him to wave a magic wand and get things done in a jiffy.

The PKR supremo could not however explain what was preventing him from giving the commitment that Uthayakumar was seeking in black-and-white.            

There were shades of the problem of land for Tamil schools in the plea by the Orang Asli for reserve land, according to Jeffrey.

“The fear is that since the JHEOA is a federal department, any state land alienated as Orang Asli reserve would end up in the hands of Putrajaya.”

He disclosed that the Selangor government would consider whether if it can pass an enactment allowing for Orang Asli reserve land to be outside federal government jurisdiction.

Jeffrey will be heading to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to brief Uthayakumar and the Orang Asli on his discussions in Sibu with Anwar.

“What I want to do most is to go on a walkabout in Hulu Selangor with Uthaya,” confessed Jeffrey who will be meeting the HRPM chief and the Orang Asli in his capacity as Common Interest Group Malaysia head.

“It will really make a difference in our bid to capture more than the assured 50 percent of the Indian votes.”

NONE He’s not too hopeful now that the clock is ticking away towards Sunday and it is difficult to envisage Uthayakumar getting his commitment in writing by then.

Uthayakumar, when contacted, appeared to be in the midst of a meeting. He promised through an aide to call back in an hour but failed to do so.

Instead, his younger brother and Hindraf Makkal Sakthi chair Waythamoorthy ( left ) called Malaysiakini from Singapore to enquire about Zaid’s progress in Hulu Selangor.

He expressed regret that he could not do more for the Pakatan candidate since his elder brother was responsible for going to the ground.

“I really pray that Zaid comes through despite both Hindraf and HRPM remaining neutral in the polls,” said Waythamoorthy.

“I told Zaid just as much when we met in Singapore on March 29 and Jeffrey the next day and in our telephone conversations since then. Zaid is a good man for Hulu Selangor but we have to remain neutral.”