Independent Living & Traing Centre Building Fund Charity Show

On 1/11/2009, I was invited to attend as a special guest by Mr G Sivasangara Rao, President, Independent Living & Training Centre to attend a Building Fund raising event at The Plenary Hall, Kuala lumpur Convention Centre. The event was succesful. I managed to snap a few pictures from the 1st floor, as the ground floor was reserved for VVIP's.

How you become a racist …

By James Chin
NOV 2 — In the past week, newspapers in Sarawak have been covering a story of an Iban-Chinese girl who was denied a place in the matriculation programme because she was deemed a “non-Bumiputera”. This is what the Borneo Post (Oct 29) reported:

“KUCHING: Getting her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) result was the best — and the worst — thing that could happen to Marina Undau.The 18-year-old science stream student of SMK Simanggang scored 9As and 1B in the SPM examination last year. She thought she was on her way to university, especially being a Bumiputera and all, but that was not to be. Born to an Iban father and a Chinese mother, Marina’s life was turned upside down when her application to undergo a university matriculation programme was rejected by the Ministry of Education. The ministry determined that she is not a ‘Bumiputera’…

“Seated between her parents, Undau Liap and Wong Pick Sing, the disappointment in the teenager was obvious. Speaking in Iban, she said: ‘Aku amai enda puas ati nadai olih nyambung sekula ngagai universiti (I’m very sad that I can’t pursue my university education).’ With no chance of entering a university for now, Marina has started Form 6 in her old school.

“Asked what she thought of everything that was happening, she replied: ‘What worries me is that will this happen again when I pass my STPM next year? If I get good results, what’s next?’

“In Sarawak, under the federal constitution, both parents must be ‘native’ in order for the offspring to be classified as a ‘Bumiputera’.”

In case you are curious how they play the blood game, this is the official definition used by the Student Intake Management Division, Higher Learning Department and Higher Education Ministry:

You are a Bumiputera if

• Semenanjung — “Jika salah seorang ibu atau bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Orang Asli seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 160(2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If either parent of a candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/Orang Asli as defined in Article 160 (2) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)

• Sabah — “Jika bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Peribumi Sabah seperti yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(a) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father of the candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/native of Sabah as defined by Article 161A(6)(a) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)

• Sarawak — “Jika bapa dan ibu adalah seorang Peribumi Sarawak seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(b) Perlembagaan persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father and mother is a native of Sarawak as defined under Article 161A(6)(b) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)

Since this story broke, many others from mixed, i.e. native-Chinese background, have come forward to tell their appalling stories about not being able to enter matriculation classes and a direct route to a public university.

Just in case you do not know, to enter a public university in Malaysia, you can either do the one-year matriculation programme or the two-year STPM. But there is a catch. The matriculation is only available to Bumiputeras so all the non-Bumiputeras must take the STPM route. It is also common knowledge that matriculation is much easier than STPM and once you get in, you are almost certain to get a university place. Hence, the desperate rush to get into matriculation (see quoted story above).

Oh, before you get any ideas in your head, according to the government, we practice “meritocracy” in the intake of university students! But don’t ask hard questions like why matriculation is restricted or that there is a separate university for Bumiputeras only.

What really bothers me is not the individual sad stories about how children from native-Chinese marriages are denied their Bumiputera rights, but how the media is only reporting from one side. All the stories tell of how their future is damaged since they cannot get into the matriculation programme, and how they are “forced” to go to STPM or Sixth Form.

It is truly shocking that none of the newspaper dare to write the real angle of the story — how about the thousands of poor Chinese students who are denied a place in university because they are completely shut off from the matriculation programme. Are you telling me that there are no poor Chinese or Indians in Sarawak, or that all poor non-Bumiputeras in Sarawak, or for that matter in the whole of Malaysia, happily go into the two-year, tougher STPM and “try their luck” with university admission?

Why do the newspapers only focus on the children of mixed marriages?

Isn’t this exactly why normal people become racist when they see this sort of shenanigans happening right in front of them? How do you explain to your child that she cannot enter university because she was born of the “wrong” race? Education is one of the most basic human rights and here we using higher education to turn an ordinary human being into a racist — all because someone is obsessed with the definition of race. No wonder Sarawak is the model for 1 Malaysia!

An Extraordinary Indian

'I don't feed beggars. They can look after themselves. The mentally ill won't ask anyone for food or money,' says N Krishnan who has been feeding them thrice a day for the past seven years.

For more information on N Krishnan's trust, log on to: http://www.akshayat rust.org/




Left 5-star job to feed the mentally ill

N Krishnan feeds 400 mentally ill people on the streets of Madurai three times a day, every day, all 365 days of the year. The 28 year old has been doing this for seven years via a charity called the Akshaya Trust.

A look into the kitchen reveals a spotlessly clean room.. Sparkling vessels stacked neatly, groceries and provisions all lined up in rows -- rice, dal, vegetables, spices -- all of the best quality.. One would think this was the kitchen of a five star hotel.

Maybe Krishnan achieves that effect because he was once a chef at a five star hotel in Bengaluru.

"Today's lunch is curd rice, with home made pickle, please taste it," he says, serving me on a plate made of dried leaves. The food is excellent.

"I change the menu for different days of the week. They will get bored if I serve the same food every day," he says with an enthusiastic and infectious smile.

Image: N Krishnan feeds a mentally ill person on a Madurai street
Photographs: A Ganesh நாடார்


Krishnan feeds 400 mentally ill people every day

Krishnan cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner with the help of two cooks. He takes it himself to his wards on the street each day.

"I don't feed beggars. They can look after themselves. The mentally ill won't ask anyone for food or money. They don't move around much too. I find them in the same place every day."

That morning he put the food in a large vessel, the pickle in a smaller one and loaded it into a Maruti van donated by a Madurai philanthropist.

Ten minutes later we stopped near a man lying on the ground by a high wall. Krishnan put the food next to him. The man refused to even look at it, but grabbed the water bottle and drank eagerly. "He will eat the food later, looks like he was very thirsty," said Krishnan.

At the next stop, he laid the dry leaf-plate and served the food. He then scooped some food and started feeding the mentally ill man himself. After two morsels, the man started eating on his own.

We then crossed a crowded traffic signal and stopped the vehicle. On seeing Krishnan, four individuals moved slowly towards the Maruti van. They stood out in the crowd with their dirty, tattered clothes and unshaven beards. They knew this Maruti van meant food. But they did not hurry, knowing that Krishnan would wait for them. Krishnan served them under a tree and carried water for them. "They are not aware enough to get their own water," he explained.

And thus we went around the city till the Akshaya patra was empty. Of course, it would be full again for dinner later in the day.


Image: Krishnan's wards often approach him when they see his food-laden van




Past 7 years

As we returned, a startling fact hit me. Not a single mentally challenged person had thanked Krishnan. They did not even smile or acknowledge him. Still Krishnan carried on in a world where most of us get offended if someone doesn't say thank you, sometimes even for doing our jobs.

The food costs Rs 8,000 a day, but that doesn't worry him. "I have donors for 22 days. The remaining days, I manage myself. I am sure I will get donors for that too, people who can afford it are generally generous, particularly when they know that their hard earned money is actually going to the poor. That is why I maintain my accounts correctly and scrupulously." He then pulled out a bill from the cabinet and showed it to me. It was a bill for groceries he had bought seven years ago. "This bill has sentimental value. It is the first one after I started Akshaya."

The economic slowdown has resulted in a drop in the number of donors. Earlier, they sustained meals for 25 days. Software giants Infosys and TCS were so impressed with his work that they donated three acres of land to him in Madurai . Krishnan hopes to build a home for his wards there. He has built the basement for a woman's block which will house 80 inmates, but work has currently halted due to a lack of funds.



Five idlis

This, however, is not the sum of his good deeds. Krishnan also performs the funerals of unclaimed bodies in Madurai . He collects the body, bathes it and gives it a decent burial or cremation as the need may be.

He gets calls, both from the municipal corporation and general hospital for the funerals.

He recalls with a little prompting how one day he saw a mentally ill man eating his excreta. He rushed to the nearest restaurant and bought the man five idlis. The man ate voraciously, and then smiled at him. The smile made Krishnan want to do it again and again.

Krishnan has not married and wonders if anyone would want to marry a man who spends his days cooking food for others. He is firm that his life partner has to agree to this kind of life.

His parents were initially shocked, but are now very supportive of their son. They advise him about the cuisine and also about how he can streamline the process.

One wonders why he left his job in a five star hotel to bury the dead and feed the mentally ill. To this he just smiles and says, "I like doing it."

T H A N K you Mr.Krishnan !