Hundreds turn up for ‘stateless Indians’ protest | Free Malaysia Today

Hundreds turn up for ‘stateless Indians’ protest

G Lavendran and K Pragalath | December 12, 2012

MIC members are also present and have set up MyDaftar kiosks outside the NRD office.

FULL REPORT

PUTRAJAYA: Hundreds gathered at the open space behind the Palace of Justice here to participate in the 12-12-12 protest for stateless Indian Malaysians.
Some in the crowd of about 600 came clad in the “12-12-12” shirts.
Most of Pakatan Rakyat’s Indian representatives were also present including Klang MP Charles Santiago, Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran, Kapar MP S Manikavasagam and Subang MP R Sivarasa.
PKR vice-president Chua Jui Meng and several others addressed the crowd who were carrying red identification cards.
Police personnel were seen guarding the National Registration Department (NRD) office. MIC had also set up MyDaftar kiosks in front of the NRD.
There were banners hung in front of the NRD office with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s photos with messages commending the MyDaftar programme.
After a brief stand-off, NRD opened its doors to allow representatives from the group to meet its officers.
Meanwhile, MyDaftar representative K Novinthen told FMT that 20 people have already registered to obtain their identification documents since morning.
PKR: 500 registered today

Special Indian Implementation Task Force (SITF) adviser N Siva Subramaniam, when met near the NRD office, told FMT that 65 people registered with the MyDaftar programme today.
“Red and green IC holders are not stateless.
“Red is given to those with permanent residence status whereas green is given to those who are in welfare homes and orphans,” he said.
Three persons managed to obtain birth certificates due to the protest held today.
M Soundarajan, 47, from Rawang, claimed that his children were given birth certificates without his name.
“I was late in applying for the MyKad. That resulted in the birth certificates without my name. I came here six times but failed to rectify my children’s birth certificates,” he said.
Meanwhile, PKR claimed that they had registered a total of 500 people.
“It is a tremendous success since it is a working day,” said Surendran.
Asked about MIC central working committee member S Vell Paari’s offer to work together to resolve the problem, he said: “MIC and BN are making the offer to curb the political damage that they have suffered.”
“They should ask Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, as part of the government, to resolve the problem instead of cheating the people,” he added