KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — There's nothing like a good risotto or pasta that tells you the Italian bistro you have just been to is worth going again. We liked the Prawn and Scallop Risotto at Uno! in Taman ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — They learnt to make butter and pasta, clarify a consommé, shape semolina dumplings, and ice a strawberry mille-feuille. All 17 of them.The children — little chefs — were bewitched ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — This definitely has to be one of my favourite desserts. Panna Cotta, a popular Italian dessert with an Asian twist — green tea!In its simplest form, panna cotta is made by simmering ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — There's nothing like a good risotto or pasta that tells you the Italian bistro you have just been to is worth going again. We liked the Prawn and Scallop Risotto at Uno! in Taman ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — They learnt to make butter and pasta, clarify a consommé, shape semolina dumplings, and ice a strawberry mille-feuille. All 17 of them.The children — little chefs — were bewitched ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — This definitely has to be one of my favourite desserts. Panna Cotta, a popular Italian dessert with an Asian twist — green tea!In its simplest form, panna cotta is made by simmering ... Read More
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho shouts to his players during their Spanish King's Cup final soccer match against Atletico de Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid May 17, 2013. — Reuters picMADRID, May 20 — Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has convened a news conference for later today amid speculation the La Liga club are poised to announce the departure of coach Jose Mourinho.
Perez will appear at the Bernabeu stadium at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), Real said on their website (http://www.realmadrid.com) without giving further details.
The world's richest club by income, Real will end this season without major silverware following Friday's defeat by city rivals Atletico Madrid in the King's Cup final.
Portuguese Mourinho, who has done little to contradict reports he will return to Premier League club Chelsea next season, said it had been a "disastrous" campaign and his "worst ever" as a coach.
Paris St Germain's boss Carlo Ancelotti has been widely tipped as Mourinho's successor and the Italian has told the French side he wants to leave. — Reuters
MOSCOW, May 20 — A Russian Premier League match in Makhachkala between local side Anzhi and Lokomotiv Moscow will go ahead today despite two car bombs that killed at least two people in the Dagestan capital earlier in the day.
Investigators work at the site of an explosion in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala May 1, 2013. Earlier today, another two car bombs were detonated in the capital city, killing at least two people. — Reuters pic"Following several media reports about the possible cancellation of Monday's match, the Russian Premier League (RFPL) has not discussed such a scenario," the league said in a statement on its website (http://www.rus.rfpl.org).
The explosions also wounded more than 20 in one of the deadliest attacks this year in a region plagued with violence linked to an Islamist insurgency, investigators said.
Car bombs and suicide attacks are routine in Dagestan, centre of an insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in neighbouring Chechnya.
Wealthy Anzhi boast several world-class players such as Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o in their expensively-assembled squad and are coached by former Russia boss Guus Hiddink.
Anzhi, bankrolled by local billionaire owner Suleiman Kerimov, can clinch third place - their best finish in Russia's top flight - if they beat Lokomotiv.
Hiddink's team have also reached the Russian Cup final where they will face newly-crowned champions CSKA Moscow in the Chechen capital Grozny on June 1. — Reuters
Red Orchid, 2006, charcoal and watercolour.PETALING JAYA, May 20 – The disciplines of medicine and art have historically had a long and distinguished connection.
Both are concerned with form, processes of observation, and require precise visual and manual skills. Ever since the Renaissance, when Da Vinci's skilful anatomical drawings and the illustrations of revolutionary anatomist Andreas Vesalius's works led to new levels of accuracy for both figurative art and anatomical understanding, scenes of a medical nature have abounded in art.
From the historical to the deeply personal, from Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, to Thomas Eakins' The Agnew Clinic, through Van Gogh's portraits of Dr Gachet, Barbara Hepworth's Hospital Drawings and even Damien Hirst's pseudo-anatomical sculptures, art has both documented and contributed to the state of clinical medicine since its early days.
That the work of Sir Roy Calne – the extraordinary medical scientist who is also a dedicated and energetic artist – takes a proud place in this tradition, should come as no surprise.
Calne had always enjoyed art and drawing, but as a young boy he could hardly have imagined the influence it was to have on his life and his provision of medical care. Calne, like most doctors, believes that both the "process of surgery as an art and as a science is always to be aware that the patient is at the centre of all considerations, everything should be done to give the patient the best chance of alleviating suffering and hopefully providing a cure."
Art, by contrast, he considers to be "mainly concerned with emotions", and, when made well, serves its purpose in a quasi-religious form by "uplifting the soul."
Whereas Calne's astounding medical achievements have, for decades, transformed the physical wellness of patients, his art has contributed to their spiritual recovery.
Sitting with his patients whilst painting them transformed the traditionally formal, and often intimidating doctor-patient relationship, delivering a more informal space for the expression of the patient's concerns, fears and queries.
It put critically ill people at ease, providing entertainment, distraction and attention of a non-clinical nature. This approach was particularly beneficial to young children, who were often frightened by the hospital setting and unpleasant medical treatments.
Sitting for their portraits, they could feel special, and build up a friendly and trusting relationship with the surgeon who, until this point, could only be a figure of fear.
Calne is best known as one of the pioneers of modern medical science. A key player in the development of organ transplantation as a viable treatment for otherwise incurable organ failure, his research and his surgical skills have saved countless lives across the globe. He was initially drawn into the dramatic world of transplant surgery when to most people the idea still belonged to the realms of science fiction.
Bouquet, 2012, watercolour.As a young medical student at Guy's hospital in London, Calne met a patient his own age dying of end-stage kidney failure. Calne felt incensed at the waste of life, asking why a transplant could not take place.
He was bluntly told by a consultant that the idea was impossible. His fellow students told him to keep his radical questions quiet. But a seed had been planted, and shortly afterwards, at a time when only one successful transplant – the donation of a kidney from one identical twin to the other in Boston – had ever been performed, Calne was part of a select, courageous and maverick group of physicians who were striving to realizing this "impossible" dream.
Now his scientific career boasts an impressive number of firsts; the first European liver transplant, the UK's first intestinal transplant and the first successful global combined heart, lungs and liver, and combined stomach, intestine, pancreas, liver and kidney cluster transplants.
In addition to surgical excellence, Calne's vitally important research into immunosuppressants, including cyclosporine, proved key to developing a solution to graft rejection.
Though Calne had long painted his patients, it was upon meeting renowned Scottish painter John Bellany that Calne's artwork matured. Bellany was dying of liver failure, and Calne was responsible for the graft that saved his life.
When Bellany came round from the operation, weak and in critical condition, he immediately requested paints and paper to document his condition. He was about to produce a brilliant and emotive series of medical art: his Addenbrookes Hospital Series.
Lolypop, watercolour.These were drawings and paintings made about his experience of recovery in hospital, the extensive breadth of which lined the walls of his hospital ward. Calne was astonished and inspired by Bellany's tenacity and determination to paint whilst in such a poor physical condition; the two became friends, and Bellany gave Calne painting lessons, both whilst he was still a patient in the ward, and afterwards.
They painted reciprocal portraits of one another, and Bellany taught Calne to use "the brightest, strongest pigments available" instead of the "dull" colours he had been using before.
This technique is characteristic of Bellany's work and has come to be a major part of Calne's own practice. Paintings full of vibrant and energetic hues developed.
The two remain close friends, and the naïve expressiveness of Bellany's influence can still be seen in Calne's works, lending them a new strength and boldness of vision.
Around 1998, Calne took up sculpture as well, challenging himself with the three dimensional form – an area that he shows natural talent for. His bronzes have delighted viewers with their movement, and as with his paintings, their energy.
Like many artists before him, Calne has sometimes used his art to document progressions in medicine – particularly his own field, recognising that being one of the first surgeons involved in the development of transplant surgery has granted him a unique opportunity to preserve its history through his paintings.
Ballet stretch, a sculpture by Roy Calne.As part of his tribute to the specialist field in which he himself has played such a key part, Calne has painted surgical scenes, patients and colleagues, capturing the visceral and arresting drama of the discipline with his colour palette and brush strokes.
He has even painted Lolypop, the dog on whom he performed the first successful kidney graft using azathiopurine, a drug which significantly delayed the rejection of a transplanted organ.
The dog, who, presented by Calne at a groundbreaking international conference, proceeded to emphasise how very much alive and well he was by licking the faces of those sat on the front row, here frolics amidst a riot of brightly coloured carpets, curtains and rugs, the eye-popping pigments expressing the vitality that pervades Calne's work.
Whether he depicts a scene from an operating theatre, a sick patient, a landscape or even a traditional still life of a vase of flowers, each and every piece is an energetic celebration of the gift of life.
The Art of Giving – Solo exhibition by Sir Roy Calne
Our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the music makes us feel, a new study finds. - AFP picNEW YORK, May 20 — A new study finds that our brains are wired to make music-colour connections depending on how the melodies make us feel.
Mozart's jaunty "Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major" is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his somber "Requiem in D minor" is linked to bluish gray, the findings revealed.
US researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, recruited nearly 100 subjects for a study on music and colour, with half of the subjects residing in the San Francisco Bay Area and the other half in Guadalajara, Mexico.
"The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from hearing music to seeing colours," said lead author and UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer.
Using a 37-colour palette, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colours, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colours.
"Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colours people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to," said Palmer.
In three experiments, the subjects listened to 18 classical music pieces that varied in tempo (slow, medium, fast) and in major versus minor keys. In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colours that best matched the music to which they were listening. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dreary, and calm to angry.
The researchers add that the findings could have implications for creative therapies, advertising and even music player gadgetry.
For example, they could be used to create more emotionally engaging electronic music visualizers, computer software that generates animated imagery synchronized to the music being played.
Currently, the colours and patterns appear to be randomly generated and do not take emotion into account, researchers said.
Palmer will present the study's findings at the International Association of Colour conference at the University of Newcastle in the UK on July 8.
Findings were also published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Next, the research team plans to study participants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor.
"We know that in Mexico and the US the responses are very similar," Palmer said.
"But we don't yet know about China or Turkey." – AFP-Relaxnews
Director Takashi Miike (R) poses with cast members Nanako Matsushima (C) and Takao Osawa (L) during a photocall for the film "Wara No Tate" (Shield of Straw) at the 66th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 20, 2013. — Reuters picCANNES, May 20 — Japanese director Takashi Miike got the final week of the Cannes film festival off to an explosive start today, with big budget cop thriller "Shield of Straw" a sharp contrast to the more intense, intimate movies screened so far.
Typically for Cannes, where critical passions run high, both exuberant cheers and boos rang out after an advance press screening of "Wara No Tate" ("Shield of Straw"), one of 20 entries vying for the top Palme d'Or prize awarded yesterday.
Miike, whose last appearance at the world's most important cinema showcase was in 2011, said the selection committee's decision to include his high-octane cop movie in the main lineup came as a shock.
"When I learned this film was selected I was very surprised, I was really astonished," Miike told reporters ahead of its official today's evening premiere.
"If I got the Palme d'Or I'd be delighted of course," he said. "But I don't really think this is a film made for the Palme d'Or. But I'm delighted to know that a rather different kind of film, another class of film is in the selection."
Halfway through the festival, critics have seen a varied array of films, from Ethan and Joel Coen's quirky ode to folk music "Inside Llewyn Davis" to Amat Escalante's powerful "Heli" about Mexico's drug war.
The competition has also included the intense psychological drama "Le Passe" ("The Past") directed by Iran's Asghar Farhadi, whose "A Separation" won a best foreign language Oscar.
Eagerly-awaited movies to launch this week include US director Steven Soderbergh's "Behind the Candelabra" about pianist Liberace and starring Michael Douglas, and "La Venus a la Fourrure" ("Venus in Fur") by Roman Polanski about an actress trying to convince a director to cast her in his latest play.
MANHUNT
Since starting out in motion pictures in the early 1990s, Miike has made over 80 films, including the 1999 horror flick "Audition" and 2004's "Zebraman" about a family man superhero.
In "Wara No Tate," four elite police officers are charged with protecting and transporting a high-profile criminal across the country after a billionaire puts a huge bounty on his head for the murder and rape of his granddaughter.
Apparently everyone is after the criminal, played by Tatsuya Fujiwara, raising the stakes for lead cop Kazuki Mekari (Takao Osawa) who is charged with protecting him but who resolutely refuses to kill him himself to reap the reward.
"All of the characters in the film have their own ideas of justice ... even the criminal, he has his own approach," Osawa told journalists. "There are two sides, good and evil, and everyone tries to find a balance to survive."
Despite his fondness for action, Miike also explores darker themes in the film including the morality of protecting criminals at the expense of victims and how financial desperation breeds violence.
In one early review, Screen magazine's Tim Grierson cited the "pulpy thrills" of the premise and a gripping lead performance by Osawa, but added that "plausibility issues and an unconvincing exploration of the limits of justice noticeably dampen the fun. — Reuters
LOS ANGELES, May 20 — On Sunday, May 19, the annual Billboard Music Awards took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The awards honour creativity and achievement in the music industry. This year's event saw Taylor Swift pick up eight awards and Rihanna dominate R&B; a list of some of the night's big winners can be found below.
One of the night's biggest winners was American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who picked up eight awards - Artist of the Year, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Country Artist and Top Digital Songs Artist, and her 2012 LP "Red" won Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Country Album, while her hit single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" from "Red" took Top Country Song.
Elsewhere Rihanna picked up awards in the categories Top Radio Artist and Top R&B Artist, while Gotye received the award for "Top Hot 100 Song" for his hit track "Somebody That I Used To Know (Feat. Kimbra)." — AFP/Relaxnews
KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Childhood stories. Most people wrote theirs; fewer have drawn theirs. But one thousand words is not easy to write, and a picture does not have to be too detailed to tell a good ... Read More
Mukhriz telah menolak permohonan PR untuk menggunakan Stadium Suka Menanti. - Gambar failKUALA LUMPUR, 20 Mei – Walaupun permohonan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) untuk menggunakan Stadium Suka Menanti ditolak pentadbiran Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, Himpunan 505 yang dijadualkan pada 21 Mei ini akan tetap diteruskan di Kompleks PAS Kedah.
Pesuruhjaya PAS Kedah, Datuk Mahfuz Omar berkata, selain kesal dengan pentadbiran Mukhriz, himpunan yang turut membariskan kepimpinan tertinggi PR itu tetap dijangka akan menarik kehadiran lebih 50,000 penyokong PR walaupun lokasinya berpindah di saat-saat akhir.
"Kita tukar lokasi ke Kompleks PAS Batu 9, Kota Sarang Semut. Kita tidak perlukan permit kerana itu adalah premis kami," katanya kepada The Malaysian Insider hari ini.
Antara kepimpinan PR yang dijangka hadir adalah Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu, Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng, dan juga Penasihat DAP, Lim Kit Siang.
"Sebagai menteri besar muda, Mukhriz diharapkan untuk menyaingi Menteri Belia dan Sukan Khairy Jamaluddin kerana mengatakan kementerian itu bukan kementerian BN (Barisan Nasional), tetapi untuk semua.
"Namun saya kecewa kerana beliau orang muda yang tidak dapat menjiwai hak orang muda untuk melaksanakan demokrasi terbuka, bebas, dan memberikan hak kepada semua," katanya.
Mahfuz yang juga Naib Presiden PAS turut menegaskan, pentadbiran PAS Kedah sebelum ini tidak pernah memilih bulu dalam memberikan kebenaran kepada kerajaan untuk menggunakan premis kerajaan negeri berkenaan untuk menganjurkan program mereka walaupun mereka memaki hamun PAS.
"Pentadbiran kita dahulu kita amalkan liberalisasi demokrasi di Kedah, Umno dan BN boleh guna (premis kerajaan negeri) untuk maki PR, adu domba, politik perkauman, hasutan semua kita benar ... kenapa kita hari ini dihalang?" soalnya, dan menambah, Mukhriz juga adalah orang muda yang terkongkong dengan perasaan ketakutan terhadap kesedaran politik rakyat.
"Malang bagi anak muda Kedah," tegas Mahfuz lagi.
Mukhriz telah menolak permohonan pembangkang mengadakan perhimpunan di Stadium Sultan Abdul Halim, Suka Menanti, Selasa ini atas alasan perhimpunan seperti itu tidak wajar diadakan.
Walaupun berpendapat mana-mana pihak boleh mengadakan perhimpunan, Mukhriz menegaskan pengisian himpuna berkenaan juga perlu diteliti sebelum diberikan kebenaran.
"Perhimpunan ini yang telah diadakan di beberapa tempat di seluruh negara bertujuan menimbulkan rasa benci di kalangan peserta terhadap kerajaan yang mendapat mandat daripada rakyat untuk tubuhkan kerajaan Persekutuan serta di Kedah ini. Ini suatu yang tak boleh diterima.
"Kalau setakat nak berhimpun tidak ada masalah. Ini kandungan ucapan oleh pemimpin pakatan pembangkang sarat dengan tohmahan dan dakwaan tidak berasas," katanya sebelum ini.
Kedah Pada Pilihan Raya 2008 jatuh ke tangan pembangkang dan PAS telah melantik Datuk Seri Azizan Razak untuk memegang jawatan sebagai menteri besar Kedah.
Pada Pilihan Raya 2013, negeri berkenaan jatuh kembali ke tangan BN, apabila pakatan kerajaan berjaya mendapat 21 kerusi, dan pembangkang hanya mendapat 15 kerusi.
Dr Ahmad Zahid memberi amaran kepada portal berita Malaysiakini supaya lebih bertanggungjawab. - Gambar failPUTRAJAYA, 20 Mei — Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hari ini memberi amaran kepada portal berita Malaysiakini supaya lebih bertanggungjawab dalam menyiarkan berita.
Beliau berkata portal berita itu perlu berpegang kepada etika kewartawanan tanpa memutarbelitkan berita atau kenyataan asal menjadi kontroversi.
"Anda (wartawan Malaysiakini) selalu putar belitkan kenyataan, selalu sangat. Perkara yang tak ada anda buat ada, anda tulis elok-elok.
"Saya pantau setiap perkataan, ayat, perenggan, setiap berita di Malaysiakini. Anda jangan main api dengan saya. Anda selalu putar belit.
"Tolong cuba menulis mengikut etika kewartawanan okay?," katanya kepada wartawan portal itu pada sidang media sempena hari pertama beliau bertugas di kementerian itu, di sini hari ini.
Ahmad Zahid juga menegaskan beliau tidak akan memohon maaf kepada Setiausaha Agung DAP Lim Guan Eng berhubung kenyataannya menggesa mereka yang tidak berpuas hati dengan keputusan pilihan raya di Malaysia supaya berhijrah ke negara di mana mereka boleh mempraktikkan kepercayaan politik mereka, yang menurutnya telah disalah tafsir.
"Dia (Lim) yang patut minta maaf kepada saya, sebab salah tafsir kenyataan saya. Bukan saya minta maaf kepadanya," katanya dengan nada serius. — Bernama
Uthaya Sankar SB berkarya dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Beliau adalah presiden Kumpulan Sasterawan Kavyan (Kavyan) dan pemilik tunggal Perunding Media, Motivasi dan Penerbitan Uthaya. Selain menulis, membaca dan bercakap, beliau juga suka menonton filem.
20 MEI — Biar saya mulakan dengan menjelaskan sedikit kekeliruan yang mungkin masih wujud berkaitan Hindraf. Pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) pimpinan P. Waythamoorthy yang diluluskan pendaftarannya pada 8 Mac 2013 adalah Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (Hindraf).
Sementara itu, Hindu Rights Action Force atau Barisan Bertindak Hak Penganut Hindu (Hindraf) pula suatu gerakan yang mula diperkenalkan pada tahun 2006. Gerakan itu menganjurkan demonstrasi besar-besaran yang memeranjatkan kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) pada 25 November 2007.
Susulan daripada itu, lima pemimpin gerakan Hindraf ditahan mengikut Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) manakala Waythamoorthy berjaya melarikan diri ke India dan kemudian ke United Kingdom.
Perjanjian BN-Hindraf dikatakan 'permulaan perjalanan baru'.Tsunami politik melanda negara dalam Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12 (PRU12) pada 8 Mac 2008 dan BN menyedari "kuasa" kaum India. Susulan daripada itu, pada 15 Oktober 2008, Hindraf diwartakan sebagai sebuah pertubuhan haram, satu tindakan yang menetapkan penglibatan sesiapa juga dalam pertubuhan itu merupakan satu kesalahan dari segi undang-undang (Utusan Malaysia, 16 Oktober 2008).
Walaupun lima pemimpin Hindraf dibebaskan daripada tahanan ISA pada Mei 2009, Menteri Dalam Negeri (waktu itu), Hishammuddin Hussein dilaporkan oleh Utusan Malaysia (12 Mei 2009) sebagai berkata, permohonan pertubuhan itu bagi mengkaji semula status pengharamannya telah ditolak oleh kerajaan dan Hindraf kekal sebagai pertubuhan haram.
Dalam laporan yang sama, Ketua Polis Negara (waktu itu), Musa Hassan menyatakan bahawa tindakan akan diambil mengikut undang-undang negara terhadap Waythamoorthy apabila dia pulang ke tanah air.
Dipendekkan cerita, semua orang tahu bahawa Waythamoorthy sudah pulang ke Malaysia dan tiada tindakan diambil terhadapnya. Sebaliknya, dalam perkembangan terbaru, seolah-olah dipeluk dan dicium manja, Pengerusi BN, Najib Razak melantik bekas pelarian itu sebagai Timbalan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri.
Terdahulu, dalam situasi yang disifatkan sebagai "terdesak dan nazak", adalah dipercayai bahawa Najib telah mengarahkan Menteri Dalam Negeri, yang kemudian mengarahkan pula Pendaftar Pertubuhan Malaysia (RoS) supaya menghantar surat kepada Waythamoorthy pada 26 Januari 2013 untuk memaklumkan bahawa pengharaman Hindraf di bawah Seksyen 5 Akta Pertubuhan 1966 sudah ditarik balik.
Di sebalik segala perkembangan ini, perpecahan yang amat nyata sudah berlaku dalam kalangan enam pemimpin yang menggerakkan Hindraf pada 2006. Namun, tumpuan terkini adalah terhadap Waythamoorthy dan abangnya, P. Uthayakumar. Ingat: Surat RoS dialamatkan kepada Waythamoorthy, bukan Uthayakumar.
Masing-masing mengatakan bahawa dialah pemimpin Hindraf dan berhak menentukan hala tuju gerakan itu. Untuk makluman, selepas dibebaskan daripada tahanan ISA, Uthayakumar menubuhkan Human Rights Party (HRP), sebuah parti politik yang belum diluluskan pendaftaran. Malah, dalam PRU13, Uthayakumar terpaksa bertanding sebagai calon bebas.
Perebutan kuasa antara abang dan adik
Sejak 2006, Hindraf terkenal kerana kelantangan mengkritik dan menyelar BN, Umno dan MIC. Maka, apabila Hindraf pimpinan Waythamoorthy tiba-tiba mendatangani memorandum persefahaman (MoU) dengan BN pada 18 April lalu, orang ramai mempunyai alasan untuk ketawa dan berasa hairan.
"Waythamoorthy sudah menguburkan hak dan maruah kaum India. Dia terlibat sama memulakan demonstrasi menuntut hak (pada 2007) tetapi kini dia menjadi umpama bangsawan. Waythamoorthy seorang yang tidak ada harga diri mahu pun maruah." Demikian seorang mahasiswi IPTS dari Shah Alam, Nanthini Anusha meluahkan kekecewaannya kepada saya.
MIC ada alasan untuk gentar dengan pilihan Najib.Uthayakumar sendiri menghantar SMS kepada wakil media pada 18 April lalu dan menyifatkan apa yang dilakukan oleh adiknya sebagai "merampas" Hindraf. Bagi Waythamoorthy pula, dia melihat perjanjian dan kerjasama BN-Hindraf sebagai "permulaan perjalanan baru" untuk meningkatan ekonomi kaum India.
Dalam pada itu, Uthayakumar yang sedang giat menggerakkan kempen "hantar wakil Hindraf pertama ke Parlimen" pasti terasa marah dan kecewa apabila nama "Hindraf" sudah dirampas dan didaftarkan sebagai sebuah NGO oleh adiknya.
Maka, Uthayakumar mengumumkan kepada media bahawa majlis tertinggi gerakan itu sudah melucutkan Waythamoorthy daripada Hindraf pada 25 April 2013.
Menerusi laporan yang disiarkan di The Malaysian Insider (27 April 2013), si adik pula mengatakan si abang tidak ada apa-apa kuasa dalam Hindraf; apatah lagi untuk melucutkan jawatan/keahlian si adik.
"Uthayakumar hanya ada kuasa dalam HRP. Selepas dibebaskan daripada ISA pada 2009, dia menubuhkan HRP yang belum diluluskan pendaftaran. Selama dua tahun dia memimpin HRP, cawangan dibuka di tujuh negeri. Akhirnya apabila HRP sudah kehilangan sokongan, dia tiba-tiba datang mengaku dirinya pemimpin de facto bagi Hindraf. Dakwaan itu tidak benar sama sekali," kata Waythamoorthy kepada wartawan di Taiping, Perak.
Sekiranya dirujuk pada bukti berupa satu klip video wawancara Uthayakumar dengan sebuah media alternatif pada 6 Disember 2007, dia secara terang-terangan menyebut Waythamoorthy sebagai pengerusi Hindraf.
Bagaimanapun, dalam wawancara dengan media alternatif yang sama pada 20 April 2013, Uthayakumar mengaku bahawa dialah pemimpin sebenar (de facto) Hindraf.
Walau apa pun kata si abang, hakikat yang tidak dapat dinafikan adalah bahawa Hindraf sudah didaftar sebagai sebuah NGO dan si adik adalah pemimpin pertubuhan berkenaan. Si adik jugalah yang berjaya "memujuk" Najib sehingga segala sengketa lama dan ludah-meludah BN-Hindraf dilupai, lalu suatu MoU ditandatangani.
"Bagi saya, perhimpunan Hindraf pada November 2007 merupakan satu-satunya gerakan yang berjaya menyatu-padukan masyarakat India daripada pelbagai keturunan; serta membuka mata kerajaan terhadap realiti kekuatan politik yang dimiliki oleh kaum India.
HRP gagal menghantar 'calon Hindraf pertama ke Parlimen'."Pada pendapat saya, Hindraf sepatutnya kekal sebagai satu kumpulan pendesak (pressure group) dan bukannya bergabung dengan mana-mana parti politik," kata R. Balamurali (Vehl Murali), seorang peguam dari Sungai Buloh, Selangor.
Hindraf bakal "kuburkan" MIC?
Apa-apa pun, sebagai "balasan" atas kesetiaan Hindraf kepada BN, maka Waythamoorthy dilantik menjadi Timbalan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri. Uthayakumar pula hilang wang deposit di Perlimen Kota Raja dan DUN Seri Andalas dalam PRU13. Musnahlah impian si abang dalam "peluang terakhir menghantar calon Hindraf ke Parlimen".
"Saya telah berjuang bagi hak kemanusiaan dan kaum India miskin sejak hampir 24 tahun dahulu. Waythamoorthy pula hanya menyertai Hindraf pada 2007, malah kemudian melarikan diri ke London," Uthayakumar meluahkan perasaan di The Malaysian Insider (16 Mei 2013).
Menurut Uthayakumar, adiknya sekadar menguruskan Hindraf semasa dia berada dalam tahanan ISA. "Sebelum 2007, Waythamoorthy hanya pengerusi Vivekenanda Youth Movement yang sekadar menyanyi dan bermain alat muzik pada hujung minggu, hari keluarga dan pertemuan sosial," katanya.
Ternyata bukan hanya Uthayakumar yang tidak berpuas hati dengan perkembangan politik sejak hampir seminggu lalu. Hakikat yang mungkin boleh disembunyikan tetapi tidak boleh dinafikan adalah bahawa MIC tidak boleh lagi berkokok dan mendabik dada mengatakan ia satu-satunya "suara" kaum India dalam kerajaan.
Secara teknikal, kedudukan Waythamoorthy dalam Kabinet Najib adalah lebih istimewa dan terjamin berbanding keempat-empat pemimpin MIC yang "terselamat daripada dipancung" oleh pengundi dalam PRU13. Presiden MIC, G. Palanivel sendiri pasti tidak boleh meninggikan suara di hadapan Waythamoorthy yang boleh disifatkan sebagai ayam tambatan dan anak manja kepada Najib.
'I am a performer,' kata Waythamoorthy.Timbalan Presiden MIC, S. Subramaniam bertindak bijak apabila mengeluarkan kenyataan bahawa "MIC menghormati keputusan Perdana Menteri melantik Waythamoorthy sebagai timbalan menteri" dan menyeru para ahli MIC menerima keputusan Najib melantik peguam berusia 47 tahun itu (Bernama, 17 Mei 2013).
Selain daripada Uthayakumar, Ketua Pemuda MIC, T. Mohan juga lantang bersuara menyelar pelantikan Waythamoorthy. Apa tidaknya! Sekian lama mereka dalam MIC dan IPF menjadi juak-juak, pak turut dan tukang kipas, tetapi akhirnya seorang individu yang pernah menghina BN, Umno dan MIC pula senang-senang mendapat jawatan dalam Kabinet Najib.
Dalam hal ini, penasihat Hindraf, N. Ganesan memberikan amaran kepada Mohan dan Uthayakumar supaya "tutup mulut" dan tidak usah bising dalam soal pelantikan tersebut. Katanya, semakin mereka bising, maka akan semakin terbongkar segala kelemahan, ketidakcekapan dan kebodohan mereka.
Bagi Waythamoorthy pula, tidak ada apa-apa yang perlu dirisaukannya. Kedudukannya sudah amat kukuh di sisi Najib dan Umno. Selepas Thanenthiran (Parti Makkal Sakti Malaysia), dialah kini "wira Hindraf" yang bakal diagung-agungkan oleh Umno sebagai pejuang hak kaum India dan dimasukkan dalam buku sejarah bagi bacaan pelajar.
Berkenaan "salakan" Uthayakumar dan Mohan, Waythamoorthy ternyata tidak ambil pusing. "Let them talk. I'm a performer," katanya kepada wartawan akhbar New Straits Times (18 Mei 2013).
Mampukah Hindraf "menendang keluar" MIC dan menggantikan tempatnya dalam BN sebelum PRU14? Sama-sama kita nantikan "pertunjukan" selanjutnya daripada seorang "performer" yang hebat. Tuah ayam nampak di kaki, tuah Waythamoorthy siapa yang tahu!
* Uthaya Sankar SB berharap mendapat peluang mewawancara keenam-enam pemimpin Hindraf untuk mendengar kisah mereka.
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
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