Speech by M.Kula Segaran in Parliament while debating the Royal Speech on Wednesday, 14^th March 2012:

The 13^th General Elections may be held anytime now

The 13^th General Elections may be held anytime now. The general feeling is that as the BN led government is giving many goodies like the Rm500 for those who are earning a family income of less than Rm3k, announcement of building of 6 new Tamil schools, etc , the election is just around the corner.

What is more important is for the BN led Government to ensure that the next general election is free, fair, clean and transparent. It is hoped that the various suggestions made by the Parliamentary Select Committee on the election reform will be implemented.

In particular upon dissolving of the Parliament, the role of the government is just as a care taker government and it has to play only that role. In the previous elections, BN has constantly abused its care taker status and function by using the government machinery, money and media to further strengthen and enhance its hold and standing with the voters.

During an election, a government should restrict itself - in matters of policy, expenditure and appointments - to activity that is: a) routine, or b) non-controversial, or c) urgent and in the public interest, or d) reversible by a new government without undue cost or disruption, or e) agreed to by the Opposition (in those cases where consultation is appropriate).

I dare to say the coming General Election will be the dirtiest and most fiercely fought elections ever.

The political scenario has changed a lot since the last 2008 elections when the BN Government lost its 2/3 majority in Parliament. The Government must realize and accept that if voted out it has to go pea fully. But will it?

Many political skeptics say BN will cling on to power even by devious means.

Look how BN stole power in Perak. Although BN lost power in the 2008 elections and obtained only 46% percent votes, it wriggled its way by getting 3 PR assembly man to become independents and then formed the government.

It is widely speculated PR will do well in the coming general election, but will the PM and BN hand over power to PR? Will PM and BN honour the people's mandate?

The PM must openly state that he will respect the voters' wish and guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if PR gets a majority in the Parliament.

Data Sri Naif must also ensure that the next election will be free fair and clean where voters can make informed decisions freely.

Human Right Conference at Geneva

Malaysia is a member of the Human Rights Council of the UN.

Malaysia should realize it has a role to play to ensure human right values are adhered to in every part of the world. Our membership in the Human Rights Council should be taken seriously to be a standard bearer for the further growth, development and enrichment of Human Rights values.

In this context, Malaysia should act positively on the issue of Sri Lanka where tens of thousands of innocent people were killed, raped, tortured and are still missing.

A civil war has resulted in over 100, 000 people killed. The issue is, is the Sri Lanka government military action clean in the civil war issue? Are they guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and if they have committed such heinous crimes, Malaysia and the world should not turn a blind eye on this issue. Shouldn't the perpetrators of this war crime and those involved in the heinous crimes be brought to justice?

A. The UN Secretary General's Panel of Experts Report

A three-member panel was set up in September 2010 following the Joint Statement made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, after the Secretary-General Ban visited Sri Lanka shortly after the end of the conflict in May 2009. The panel consisted of Mr. Marzuki Darusman (Indonesia), Ms. Yasmin Sooka (South Africa) and Prof. Steven Ratner (USA).

The Sri Lankan Government refused to cooperate.

The evidence obtained by the panel revealed "a very different version of the final stages of the war than that maintained to this day by the Government of Sri Lanka"[ ]. The panel found "credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity".[ ] The panel concluded that the "conduct of the war represented a grave assault on the entire regime of international law designed to protect individual dignity during both war and peace".[ ]

The panel found "credible allegations" that the Sri Lankan military/government killed civilians through widespread shelling; shelled hospitals and humanitarian objects; denied humanitarian assistance; violated the human rights of civilians and Tamil Tiger combatants; and violated the human rights of non- combatants outside the conflict zone such as the media representatives.[ ] The panel found "credible allegations" that the Tamil Tigers used civilians as a human buffer; killed civilians attempting to escape Tamil Tiger control; used military equipment in the proximity of civilians; forcibly recruited children; used forced labor; and killed civilians using suicide attacks.

The Channel 4 documentary "Sri Lanka Killing fields" went on the 14^th June 2011 provided real and visual killings and torture which happen during the last days of the civil war. The 48 minute depicted "death, injury, execution, evidence of sexual abuse and murder".

The Sri Lanka President set up the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in May 2010. Unfortunately the commission's investigation etc was criticized by the UN which had this to say- Observations of the UN Panel of Experts on the nature of the LLRC.

The Panel concluded that the Government's notion of accountability is not in accordance with international standards. The government appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission has been under scrutiny by the panel as the report says, "...the LLRC is deeply flawed, does not meet International standards for an effective accountability mechanism and, therefore, does not and cannot satisfy the joint commitment of the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General to an accountability process".

Further a group of NGO's led by Sdr K.Arumugam handed over memorandum to the PM's office urging Malaysia to support the resolutions on Sri lanka presented by the US, France and Norway.

The resolutions are:

a. To address accountability for the violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law committed by all sides in the last months of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

b. To discuss both Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report and the UN Secretary General's Panel of Experts (PoE) report in 2010 to investigate allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws in the last stages of the war.

c. To establish an independent international mechanism to investigate Sri Lanka for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

d. To establish an international mechanism to monitor progress towards the implementation of an effective transitional justice process by the Government of Sri Lanka.

We urge Malaysia to do the right thing and nothing less than to give full support to the resolutions as this would be the only conscionable way for a country to do so.

Chinese and Tamil Schools

There are hundreds of teaching jobs vacant in both Chinese and Tamil schools. Although the school session has begun in January2012 yet theses vacancies have not been filled up.

Yesterday I posed a formal question on this issue and the answer given was vague as the Ministry refused to divulge the actual figure. Why the Ministry refused to do so?

We know the real reason is that little attention is paid by the ministry to fill these positions. This shortage is very severe in many schools and has existed for many months ago yet no serious and specific action has been done to fill up these positions. At the end of the day the students in these schools are the victims and suffer from the lack of teachers.

Further a serious discrepancy in the amount spent for our children in school is very glaring.

For example in the 9^th Malaysia Plan the amount spent were as follows

In the 9 th Malaysian Plan, the schools were given the following allocation:-

- National schools - RM 33.30 per month per student

- Tamil schools - RM 10.55 per month per student

- Chinese schools - RM 4.50 per month per student

Why this discrimination? Will it any different in the 10thmalaysia Plan?

An urgent new mind set is required to ensure that both issues of monies spent on school going children and the lack of teachers are addressed.

Recently the PM announced that 6 new Tamil schools would be built. Will the building of these new schools really take off or it is only a political rhetoric?

When I put in a question on this yesterday, the answer given was that it is in the planning stage.

Presently, over 90% of the Chinese population sends their children to Chinese primary schools.

Although more parents are now sending their children to Chinese independent schools, government secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan-SMK) is still the main choice for most of the Chinese parents when their children complete their education at Chinese primary school.

Presently, there are 27 Chinese primary schools and 8 SMK in Ipoh.

It is therefore clear that there is a shortage of SMK in Ipoh.

The problem is even more acute in Bercham, a fast growing area.There is no SMK within Bercham area which includes Tasek, Chemor and Tanjung Rambutan.Yet, in Bercham is located a Chinese primary school with the highest student enrolment.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for Bercham to have a new Chinese primary school as well as a SMK.

As I have previously pointed out, since a 7 acre land which is some 2km from the site of present Bercham school has been gazette to build a school but it has remained vacant for over 10 years, it ought to be utilized to build a new SMK and a Chinese primary school.

If the BN is unwilling to fund the building cost, give us the necessary permits and conditions, DAP will raise public fund to build the schools.

The land is there, we will raise the necessary building fund, so what more excuse is there for the BN government not o build a new Chinese primary school and a new SMK in Bercham?

The economic and social issues of the Indians

The first failure of the BN led government was its failure to keep to its promises. In 2000 it said by 2010 the Indians equity would be raised from 1.2% to 3%. Yet to date the Indians are stuck within the 1.2%. Now the goal post has been moved to 2020. Will the goal post be move again come 2020?

Last year, realizing that the support of the Indians is vital, the Prime Minister formed a cabinet committee known as Special Implementation Task Force on Indian Community (SITF). Has the plight and sufferings of the ordinary changed for the better?

The Indians, in comparison to the other races, suffer the most as they have high rate of 1) unemployment 2) dropout rate from schools 3) suicide rate 4) single mothers 5) lack of higher educational opportunities 6) involvement in criminal activities.

The above and many issues can only be addressed if the Government creates more opportunities in the Government and private sectors, gives land to farmers, and provides special assistance to get jobs in government service. (In 1971, there were 17% Indians in Government service and it has been reduced to less than 5%) Government must doo more terms of granting scholarships to the needy students, building houses for the poor and relocating rural Tamil schools to the urban areas.

I suggest the formation of a special Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the setbacks and sufferings of the Indian community and come up with effective solutions.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Last year an international conference on ICC was hosted by our Parliament in Malaysia on 16th March 2011. After this Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Consultation Asia Pacific meeting where many legislators had attended, the Government announced that Malaysia will become a member of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Unfortunately it is well over a year yet Malaysia has yet to formally file the accession papers with the United Nations. Why the delay?

When I posed the question last year, the Foreign Ministry said that necessary laws need to be amended locally before we can become a member of the ICC. Over 150 nations have become members of the ICC.

There should be no further delay on this issue.

* M. Kula Segaran, DAP National Vice Chairman & MP for Ipoh Barat