re Effingham Tamil School Land

Press statement 
Saturday 2 Feb 2012 

Give Effingham back the 3 acres land which you stole.

Sivarasa tells MIC again.

Today's Nanban newspaper reports that MIC Secretary General Murugesan officiated a ground breaking ceremony yesterday at 10 am at Effingham Tamil School for a new school hall costing at least 1.5 million ringgit. This hall is to be built on the school's existing 3 acres of land.

Nothing was announced in respect of the adjoining 3 acres which was originally allocated by the Bandar Utama developer for the purpose of a primary school but which MIC stole for itself in 1999 abusing its political clout, taking land meant for a school.

I am informed that no application has been made to MBPJ as the local authority for approval of planning permission for the new hall.

So why rush to do a ground breaking when you do not even have planning approval?

Is it simply electioneering?

If so, why is the School Board allowing itself to be used by third parties like the MIC?

I have no issue with building a new hall for Effingham school. Any school will welcome a new hall for itself.

However we must remember Effingham Tamil School with its 450 students and 33 teachers is struggling in cramped conditions. The school needs additional land to improve its facilities and provide a better learning environment for its current and future students.

I am sure we want our Tamil schools to grow and improve and attract more students. To do this Effingham needs the additional 3 acres much more than the MIC.By building the new hall on the current school land, the students will lose even their limited 75 m running track for a long period.

Where do they do their sports co-curricular activities?

Why deprive and punish the students even more after taking away the school field?

MIC only announced its plans to build a so-called hostel and field on the 3 acres they grabbed from the school only after it realized that public pressure had made impossible its original plans to build its headquarters there.

The Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government has also asked MIC to return the 3 acre land following which the premium paid of one plus million will be refunded. The State government has also said that if MIC is still keen to build a hostel, it will consider allocating a separate piece of land for that at a different location.

The best solution for Effingham Tamil School is to have back its additional 3 acres so that it can have sufficient land for its new hall and also all the additional physical space and facilities needed. 

I repeat again to the MIC leaders: do the right thing and return the stolen land.

Just building a new school hall cannot correct this grave injustice to Effingham Tamil school. 

by Sivarasa Rasiah
Member of Parliament for Subang,
Member of Central Leadership Council and Political Bureau, Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Do not damage the full potential and future of SRJK(T) Effingham

27th July 2012

Do not damage the full potential and future of SRJK(T) Effingham - return the land to the school
I am completely disappointed with Dato Seri Palanivel's announcement on Effingham on Monday this week. Instead of correcting an injustice committed by MIC by stealing the land from the school, he is now trying to hoodwink the public with his announcement that MIC will build a hostel for poor students and a multi-purpose hall/ sports centre on the land to be used by all the 523 Tamil schools in the country.
Palanivel needs to understand and recognise first that MIC should never have made the application to the BN Selangor government in 1999 to take 3 acres of the original 6 acre site allocated by the developer for a primary school.  MIC should instead have insisted with the BN government, which they are part of, that SRJK (T) Effingham was entitled to 6 acres like all the primary schools in the area including the nearby SRJK (C) Puay Chai which is sitting on 6 acres of land.  Instead MIC looked selfishly at its own interest and applied for the land to build its party headquarters. As far as I am concerned, this was a foul theft of the highest order of the land from the school.
Today because of the public pressure to return the land to the school, MIC is forced to give up its original plan to build its party headquarters. They also know that as long as the Pakatan Rakyat rules Selangor, they will never be allowed to build that party headquarters.
So Palanivel's announcement has no sincerity. It is simply a meaningless exercise in damage control which does not address the real issue - the need for the 3 acres for SRJK (T) Effingham to ensure that that generations of  Effingham Tamil school children have a decent school with decent facilities.
It is ridiculous to expect that 523 Tamil schools all over the country can enjoy the use of a hostel located in Bandar Utama. It is a foolish proposition. Equally foolish is the idea that the Tamil schools all over the country can enjoy the sports facilities that the MIC intend to build on the 3 acres.  Such facilities should be available close to the Tamil schools wherever they are.
Palanivel is burying his head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich and refusing to see the need of SRJK (T) Effingham is paramount. The school does not need a hostel or those sports facilities. Right now they cannot even have a proper 100 meter running track because MIC stole those 3 acres. Why is he talking nonsense about building sports facilities? What SRJK (T) Effingham needs is the 3 acres of land so that the school can provide decent facilities to its 500 students. It needs the 3 acres so that Tamil parents in the area can see that the school can provide decent facilities of an acceptable standard to the children there. Only then will more Tamil parents be encouraged to send their children there.
What Palanivel and MIC are doing now by refusing to return the 3 acres is to destroy the full potential of SRJK (T) Effingham to best educate generations of Tamil children. This statement by Palanivel only further confirms the hypocrisy of MIC when they claim themselves as so-called guardians of the interest of the Indian community in Malaysia.



Sivarasa Rasiah
Ahli Parlimen Subang
Anggota Majlis Pimpinan Pusat Parti Keadilan Rakyat